Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) said yesterday that it would be too early for the foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) to set up offices on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“We will not discuss the issue in the near future because we have been very busy negotiating the signing of the economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA],” Chiang said in Taipei.
Chiang made the remarks after ARATS Vice President Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) was quoted by China News Service as saying at a directors’ meeting in Beijing that ARATS would study establishing offices in Taiwan, while the SEF could set up offices in China.
Chiang said setting up offices on both sides of the Strait was a goal but the SEF and ARATS had not yet discussed any details. He declined to confirm whether the offices would be set up this year.
In response to ARATS Chairman Chen Yun-lin’s (陳雲林) comments that the two quasi-official bodies should discuss cross-strait cultural and educational exchanges in the next round of negotiations, Chiang said the two sides would not sign any such agreements during the next Chiang-Chen meeting.
The next round of cross-strait talks are scheduled for the first half of this year. Negotiations on an ECFA will be prioritized.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has promised that the executive branch will give the Legislative Yuan and the public an official update each month on the progress of the ECFA negotiations, which he said would help the public to better understand the agreement.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had suggested “institutionalizing” the legislature’s monitoring of cross-strait issues by setting up a cross-strait affairs monitoring task force at the Legislative Yuan. DPP spokesman Chuang Shuo-han (莊碩漢) said the party would prefer Ma to agree to establish such a task force rather than ask those involved in ECFA policy formation and negotiations to provide regular briefings.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights