Taiwan should not accept China’s view that future free-trade agreements (FTA) between Taiwan and other countries should take place under a “one China” principle, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
“Our society does not accept this principle, so any arrangements undertaken under this ‘one China’ belief would not be trusted or acknowledged,” DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.
The comments came after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office director Wang Yi (王毅) was quoted by media as saying that China understood Taiwan’s need to sign FTAs with other countries on the basis of economic expansion.
Wang said the issue would be “fairly and reasonably met with and pragmatically and properly handled.”
At a separate setting yesterday, when asked if he agreed to Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei’s (姜增偉) comments that China would make reasonable arrangements under the precondition of the so-called “1992 consensus” regarding the possibility of Taiwan signing FTAs with other countries, Strait Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) said the “1992 consensus” was the basis for cross-strait negotiations.
Jiang’s comments contradicted earlier remarks from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭), who on June 1 voiced Beijing’s opposition to Taiwan signing official agreements with other countries.
Ma Zhaoxu’s remark forced President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to publicly state that Taiwan, as a WTO member, had the right to sign FTAs with other countries and urge Beijing to stop blocking Taiwan from engaging in bilateral discussions.
The Ma government has said that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), signed in Chongqing, China, on Tuesday would reduce the barriers Taiwan faces in signing agreements with other nations.
The DPP said that China’s comments meant Taiwan was further away from signing agreements with other countries because Taiwan would not accept giving up its sovereignty to meet China’s “one China” principle.
“If Taiwan would have to accept this principle, it would mean the same as the country having to give up its sovereignty ... These are all part of [China’s] ambitions to destroy Taiwan’s international position,” Tsai said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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