The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that it has no plans to organize a meeting between its leader and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) director.
TAO Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) is scheduled to arrive for his first visit to the nation during the week of June 23, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) announced on Thursday.
The party also said that it believes it is “unwise” for Zhang to choose to visit the nation when the Legislative Yuan is set to hold a special session in which legislation relating to oversight of cross-strait agreements might be discussed.
No contact or arrangement is currently being made for DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to meet Zhang, said Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), the director of the party’s China Affairs Department.
Chao made the comments after an offer by the Cabinet-level MAC to help contact the Chinese side, should the DPP want to meet with Zhang.
DPP whip Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said his party would always leave the door open for communication with China, provided there are no preconditions or “predetermined positions.”
However, Tsai demanded that Zhang apologize for a controversial statement made two days ago by TAO spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) that the future of Taiwan “must be decided by all Chinese people, including Taiwanese compatriots.”
The statement shows no respect for Taiwan and it has hurt friendship between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Tsai said.
He added that it is unhelpful to the building of mutual trust, Tsai said.
The MAC is happy to help make the related arrangements because it is good to allow Zhang to increase his contact with local people during the trip and to understand their thoughts, MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said.
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