President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he had no immediate plans to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) despite his intention to improve cross-strait relations, and repeated his call on China to remove the missiles it targets at Taiwan.
“I don’t think [a meeting with Hu] is an issue of urgency,” Ma said during an interview with CNN’s Talk Asia aired yesterday.
Asked if he would oblige if Hu invited him personally, Ma said the time for a meeting with Chinese leaders was not ripe.
Describing Hu and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) as “tough” but “pragmatic” leaders, Ma said dialogue between the two sides should be conducted by “white gloves,” a reference to the Straits Exchanges Foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
Asked to comment on the implementation of the cross-strait weekend charter flights launched on July 4, Ma said the policy showed Taiwan’s determination to achieve peace and prosperity with China.
“The two sides were enemies for more than 60 years. Now suddenly they talk about tourism, they talk about exchange of students and trade. This is something very important and this is historic,” Ma said.
While seeking to improve cross-strait relations, Ma acknowledged that Taiwan’s international space and national security remained unresolved matters.
“These issues are very complex and are interconnected. We have already requested that the [about 1,300] missiles be removed,” Ma said.
“We don’t want to negotiate a peace agreement with the mainland under a missile threat,” he said.
Ma said it was important that Taiwan and China be willing to set aside disputes and proceed with more urgent matters.
On US-Taiwan relations, Ma said he expected the relations to remain unchanged after a new US administration comes into office next year, as the country would promote peaceful cross-strait relations.
“Whoever gets elected, they will look after US national interests in this part of the world,” he said.
In office for merely two months, Ma said the “rising oil and food prices” represented the biggest challenge to his administration, adding that he would shoulder his responsibilities as president.
Ma promised to lay the foundations for prosperity in Taiwan during his four-year term, adding that the country would have a bright future if his administration successfully improved relations with China.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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