Agricultural authorities yesterday took tentative steps toward increasing produce exports to China, saying that appropriate channels of communication should be given top priority.
Minister of the Council of Agriculture Lee Ching-lung (
He said that if the SEF was unable to act as proxy, the council would go with other non-governmental organizations, at the foundation's approval.
Lee's remarks, made yesterday at the legislature, follow an invitation from Beijing last month offering Taiwanese agricultural exporters greater access to the Chinese market. The comments mark Taiwan's first concrete response on the matter.
Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office also last month invited Taiwanese agricultural representatives to visit China and expressed a willingness to visit Taiwan for the purpose of promoting agricultural exports to China.
Both proposals have been reiterated on numerous occasions, most recently by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Willing
Lee said yesterday that boosting Taiwan's agricultural exports to any market was an important task for the council, and expressed a willingness to discuss with Chinese officials the promotion of produce exports if given the opportunity. He said, however, that he was unable to go to China.
Taiwanese officials are barred from travelling to China.
However, these agricultural incentives come in the wake of Beijing's "Anti-Secession" Law which was passed just three days ago.
The nation's top cross-strait policymaking body, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), has already made clear, without calling for a freeze on all interactions, that the bill would be a significant factor in its assessment of further cross-strait exchange and cooperation. The bill authorizes the use of military force to oppose and check Taiwanese secession as defined by Beijing.
Lee also echoed the MAC, saying that the anti-secession bill had "hurt the feelings of the Taiwanese people" and as such the agricultural council would need to further observe the situation before acting.
He did say, however, that if China were willing to give Taiwan even better terms on agricultural exports and on the fishery industry, the council would be willing to take a more positive outlook on the matter.
Calling China's proposals for increased agricultural exports from Southern Taiwan "petty," MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
Best `product'
"Our response [to China's proposal] is that our best product from Tainan is our democratically elected president and our freedom and democracy. If China is interested in importing anything from Tainan, they should import freedom and democracy from Tainan," Wu said.
Wen had called for an increase in exports from "Tainan" in particular during Monday's press conference, but had been referring to Southern Taiwan in general and not Tainan County specifically. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) hails from Tainan County.
The MAC reiterated yesterday that it would take measures to protect the national interest and would take steps to minimize the negative impacts that China's "unwise" move had caused.
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