• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

KMT deputy chairman to be Taiwan's chief negotiator with China

ROC Central News Agency

2008-04-14 15:13:02

    Taipei, April 14 (CNA) President-elect Ma Ying-jeou confirmed Monday that he will name Kuomintang (KMT) Deputy Chairman Chiang Pin-kung as head of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) , and that efforts to push for talks between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will begin after his inauguration May 20.

    Ma made the announcement at a joint press conference with Vice President-elect Vincent Siew Monday to talk about the latter's recent attendance at the 2008 Boao Forum for Asia that took place in the southern Chinese province of Hainan April 11-13.

    Siew had a high-profile meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday on the sidelines of the forum, after which China urged that the two sides "build a bilateral communication platform, the sooner the better."

    At Monday's press conference, Ma described the Siew-Hu meeting as "successful," and promised to pragmatically promote the resumption of cross-strait dialogue, which had stopped since 1999.

    Taiwan established the SEF in 1991 to serve as an intermediary body to handle cross-strait exchanges in the absence of official links. Its Chinese counterpart is the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

    During the press conference, Ma also confirmed that he will appoint Taipei-based Soochow University President Liu Chao-shiuan to serve as premier.

    Siew, who attended the annual Boao forum in his capacity as chairman of the private Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, returned to Taiwan late Sunday night.

    Siew told Taiwan journalists accompanying him on the trip that he hoped his 20-minute meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the forum will lead to a better understanding between Taipei and Beijing and contribute to the trust-building process across the strait.

    The Hu-Siew meeting, the highest political contact between Taipei and Beijing during the last six decades, was the highlight of Siew's activities in Boao and was considered a breakthrough in the political impasse between China and Taiwan.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/ pc