An official in charge of cross-strait affairs yesterday threatened to retaliate if China continues rejecting Taiwan's notarized documents.
Without elaborating on the possible modes of retaliation, the Straits Exchange Foundation's (SEF, 海基會) director of legal affairs, Lin Shu-ming (林淑閔), yesterday said that the SEF is considering taking "necessary measures" in the face of Chinese boycotts.
In response, Li Weiyi (李維一), spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, accused Taiwan of violating the agreement signed by both sides in 1993.
The rejection by Chinese authorities of documents issued by notaries public in Taiwan has become a serious problem which shows no sign of improvement. Taiwan has therefore called on the Chinese side to review its approach toward the issue.
Apparently frustrated by the fact that Taiwan's notarized documents are increasingly being rejected by Chinese authorities, Lin indicated that the worst-case scenario might be a mutual rejection of each other's notarized documents. He said the SEF will discuss detailed countermeasures with the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
Lin added that China's unilateral rejection of Taiwanese notarized documents doesn't yet affect Taiwan's recognition of China's notarized documents.
She said that, between last December and June 13, more than 5,600 notarized documents issued in Taiwan were rejected by Chinese notarization authorities.
Many Chinese provincial authorities rejected Taiwanese documents because they bear the ROC seal. However, Lin said Taiwanese documents have been bearing ROC seals since 1998, and "it wasn't a problem before," Lin added.
Commenting on the issue, MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday said the matter has greatly jeopardized individuals' rights on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
"We hope the Chinese government puts people's rights on top of its priority list when considering this case," Chen said in a weekly news conference.
He urged the Chinese government not to exercise political interference in the daily administrative exchanges between both sides of the Strait.
"Taiwan does not reject Chinese notarized documents because they bear the PRC seal," he said.
In response to questions from a Taiwanese reporter in Beijing, Li Weiyi put the blame on Taiwan, saying that Taiwan violated the agreement signed by Taiwan's top negotiator Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Daohan (汪道涵) in 1993.
"When Taiwan abides by the spirit of the agreement that both sides signed in 1993, China will again recognize documents issued in Taiwan."
Asked whether he was referring to the so-called "one China principle," Li declined to comment.
Meanwhile, while answering reporters' questions about whether the MAC would conduct loyalty checks on Taiwanese businessmen, the MAC's Chen said the government believes most Taiwanese businessmen in China are not involved in spy activities. Chen's comments referred to recent espionage fears triggered by the arrest on spy charges of a former Taiwanese businessman, Liu Chen-kuo (劉禎國), and his son, Liu Yueh-lun (劉岳龍), a navy petty officer.
Chen added that the MAC respected the judicial system's decision to investigate the case and that "we should learn from the case how the Chinese government uses power tricks to deal with Taiwan."
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