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Taiwan officially asks China to resume talks

ROC Central News Agency

2008-05-26 21:00:23

    Taipei, May 26 (CNA) Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) announced Monday that it has sent an official letter to its Chinese counterpart asking to "resume talks" based on the "1992 Consensus, " sparking hopes that the resumption of talks between Taiwan and China may be imminent.

    The SEF's initiative had been expected after President Ma Ying-jeou's election victory on March 22 created new optimism for better ties with China, but it nonetheless symbolized a new era for cross-strait relations.

    The letter was sent immediately after Taiwan's top China policy coordinator, the Mainland Affairs Council, authorized the SEF to resume administrative talks with China earlier in the day.

    The MAC had waited until ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kung formally assumed his position as SEF chairman Monday before giving the semi-official foundation the green light.

    The SEF was set up to handle negotiations with China in the absence of formal relations and will hold consultations with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) if Beijing's response to the request is positive. "To resume talks (with mainland China) is an important development for the country that also symbolizes a new era in cross-strait relations, " said Chiang. "The workload of the SEF will become heavier, but the work of the SEF will become more meaningful."

    The letter stated that the SEF is willing to resume administrative talks based on the so-called "1992 Consensus" -- under which the two sides would agree to a "one China, different interpretations" formula to set aside the sovereignty dispute in future negotiations.

    The letter further specified that the immediate priorities of the talks were "direct charter flights" and allowing "mainland tourists into Taiwan."

    Ma promised to launch nonstop charter flights across the Taiwan Strait on weekends and open the country to more Chinese tourists in early July to boost the local economy.

    Based on the authorization delivered by MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin- yuan, Chiang said at a press conference that the SEF will begin to actively form a "negotiating team comprising government officials" to reach the goal established by Ma's administration.

    Chiang would not commit to a timetable for talks between the SEF and the ARATS, saying only that "we at the SEF have to wait for ARATS' reply."

    Noting that the main concern of the government in promoting direct charter flights and the arrival of Chinese tourists is to boost Taiwan's economy, Chiang believed that in the future "cross strait relations will indeed become the most crucial factor affecting Taiwan's economy."

    Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman and the secretary general of the SEF who also took office Monday, said it was too early to discuss when the sides will resume talks that have been shelved since 1999, but he hoped that such talks would build public confidence in the nation's economic development.

    After a number of fits and starts in the 1990s, bilateral negotiations across the Taiwan Strait were suspended in 1999, when then President Lee Teng-hui defined relations between Taiwan and China as "special state-to-state" relations.

(By Howard Lin)

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