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SEF OFFICIAL PREDICTS RESUMPTION OF CROSS-STRAIT TALKS

2003-12-16 23:15:20

    Taipei, Dec. 16 (CNA) The two sides of the Taiwan Strait will resume talks after the next March 20 presidential election, an official of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) predicted Tuesday.

    In an interview with CNA, SEF Secretary-General Hsi Hwei-yow claimed that the stalemate between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is not due to a lack of communication channels and that the resumption or otherwise of cross-strait talks is a strategy used by Beijing to deal with Taiwan.

    Beijing will believe that it is better to hold talks with Taiwan than to allow cross-strait relations to remain idle after the presidential election, according to Hsu, who added that the two sides will drift farther apart without talks.

    The SEF, a semi-official organization in charge of dealing with mainland China in the absence of normal relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and its mainland counterpart -- The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait -- will continue to be the pivotal bodies for cross-strait talks in light of the fact that Beijing continues to transmit its opinions on cross-strait issues to Taiwan via the SEF, he said.

    Hsu also suggested that the regulations stipulated in the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area should be flexible because they involve many political factors and considerations.

(By Huang Kwang-chun)

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