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Taiwan hoping to avert blow to cross-strait ties: MAC

Central News Agency

2009/08/31 17:30:03

By Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) The government will do its utmost to communicate with Beijing to avert a possible blow to the warming cross-Taiwan Strait relations that might be caused by the present visit to Taiwan by the Dalai Lama, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Chairman Liu Te-shun said Monday.

Liu reiterated that the visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader is purely a religious one to console and pray for the victims of Typhoon Morakot who were killed or lost their homes and loved ones in massive flooding and landslides earlier this month.

He stressed that Taiwan has no political considerations at all for the visit of a person branded by China as a "separatist." China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council repeated a protest a day earlier over the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan, which it warned will harm cross-strait ties.

In response to the protest, Liu said the government will "use all its strength to maintain and promote the gradually formed mutual trust between the two sides." He added that efforts are being made to maintain the stable development of cross-strait links, which were icy for a large part of nearly 60 years until President Ma Ying-jeou opened his arms to China.

Liu, however, declined to give direct answers to reporters' questions on whether or not the Dalai Lama's visit will have a negative impact on the signing of a planned Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China, or on the launch of a fourth round of talks between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) , or on the upcoming Deaflympics 2009 in Taipei slated for Sept. 5-15.

Asked about China's cancellation of a celebration for the inauguration of direct cross-strait flights between Taipei and Harbin in northeastern China that day, Liu said the MAC would be trying to find out the reason for the cancellation.

The cancellation of planned celebrations for the launch of the regularly scheduled flights also spread to all other Chinese cities offering the services, a move that was blamed by corporate sources on the Dalai Lama's visit.

"It is a serious issue in China that no-one wants to touch, " they said.

Meanwhile, Li Yafei, assistant director of China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters on the sidelines of a "Taiwan Week" in Dandong, Liaoning Province, that the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan has affected cross-strait links.

"We are concerned as to how this develops, " he said. Wang Yi, director of the office, was originally scheduled to attend the opening ceremony for the "Taiwan Week" but canceled his attendance at the last minute, appointing Li to show up instead.

The Dalai Lama arrived in Taiwan a day earlier for a six-day visit at the invitation of the administrators of seven southern Taiwanese cities and counties that are known as strongholds of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

China has strongly denounced the trip but has avoided blaming Ma, who gave final approval for the Dalai Lama's visit. Instead, Beijing has accused the DPP of sabotaging the warming cross-Taiwan Strait ties.