Negotiations for a new aviation accord between Taiwan and Hong Kong remained in limbo last night, after the Hong Kong side missed its own deadline to respond to a draft accord submitted by Taiwan.
"The Hong Kong representatives said that they couldn't get a hold of the officials responsible for the matter in Hong Kong. We decided to meet again tomorrow," said Jan Jyh-horng (
Hong Kong representatives arrived in Taipei for a third round of negotiations on Tuesday, five days before the current agreement, which has already been extended twice, expires.
The representatives relayed Taiwan's proposal for the new air accord to officials in Hong Kong on Tuesday night, and promised an answer by yesterday. By press time last night, however, no response had been forthcoming.
Jan refused to give any details about the proposal his department had submitted to Hong Kong, but blamed the Hong Kong side for the delays.
"The Hong Kong representatives just kept saying that Hong Kong needs to go through many procedures to evaluate our proposal, but the Hong Kong government is just too inefficient for us to believe," Jan said.
Before the two sides left the negotiating table last night, Taiwanese representatives warned that the interests and rights of passengers traveling between Hong Kong and Taiwan should not be compromised, Jan said.
"If the two sides can't reach an agreement before the accord expires, it will be Hong Kong's fault," Jan told reporters.
The mood among Taiwanese government officials shifted from optimism to uncertainty as the 6pm deadline approached and passed yesterday. The MAC has scheduled press conferences for each of the past three days to announce that an agreement has been reached.
The two sides signed the previous air agreement in 1996, which expired in June last year. The two sides extended the accord in June and December after the two sides failed to agree on a new pact.
Hong Kong has insisted that the aviation pact be a commercial agreement between airlines.
Li Weiyi (
Taiwan, however, insists that aviation agreements between Tai-wan and all other countries, including Hong Kong, should be based on international standards.
"No civil groups are allowed to participate in the negotiations for aviation pacts. Aviation pacts are national property," Jan said.
"Taiwan is ready for an agreement, and we have tried our best for all passengers."
The two sides will meet again today.
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