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MAC chief says government delivers on cross-strait promises

ROC Central News Agency

2008-06-13 17:34:31

    Taipei, June 13 (CNA) The agreements reached between Taiwan and China's negotiators in Beijing ensure that the government's two main cross-strait goals will be carried out as projected in July, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan said Friday.

    The implementation of direct cross-Taiwan Strait passenger charter flights will begin July 4, while the first tourists visiting Taiwan directly from China will begin arriving July 18, Lai said.

    The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has been making the necessary arrangements and preparations to handle the two measures, Lai added, during a legislative question-and-answer session Friday.

    Earlier in the morning, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and his Chinese counterpart, Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), inked historic accords on the two measures and on the opening of reciprocal offices. "This is a historic juncture in advancing cross-strait relations and we must seize the opportunity," she said.

    Lai also thanked the Legislative Yuan for approving an amendment Thursday allowing the conversion of Chinese yuan in Taiwan from July in conjunction with the direct flights and tourism initiatives.

    In a related development, Lai told reporters later Friday that bilateral negotiations would be required if ARATS President Chen were to visit Taiwan and meet with President Ma Ying-jeou and Lai herself. "Of course we are looking forward to that happening through suitable arrangements," she said.

    Chiang, heading a delegation composed of officials from the SEF, MOTC and MAC, arrived in China Wednesday for the resumption of talks with the ARATS after a nine-year hiatus.

    At their historic meeting Thursday, Chiang invited Chen to visit Taiwan within this year and Chen promised to do so at a "proper time."

    SEF-ARATS negotiations were halted in 1999 after then President Lee Teng-hui aired his "two states" theory to describe cross-strait relations. Taiwan split from China in 1949 at the end of a Chinese civil war.

    SEF and ARATS are semi-official bodies responsible for dealing with cross-strait matters in the absence of government-to-government contacts.

    Taiwan's relations with China have improved significantly after Ma's inauguration as president on May 20, which ended the eight-year rule of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

(By Flor Wang)

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