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Taiwan wants international space: SEF chief tells Chinese president

ROC Central News Agency

2008-06-14 01:02:40

    Beijing, June 13 (CNA) Taiwan's top negotiator with China expressed the country's desire for international maneuvering space during a rare meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday.

    Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taipei's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), told Hu there should be plenty of room for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to cooperate in the international arena to expand their influence in global affairs.

    Now that peace and prosperity are common goals of both sides, Chiang said Taiwan should have the opportunity to actively participate in international activities to advance those ultimate objectives.

    Taiwan has for years been suppressed by Beijing on the diplomatic front, with no representation in many important international organizations, such as the United Nations and all its affiliated bodies, and no official ties with nearly all major countries in the world.

    As a special envoy of Taiwan's government, Chiang seized the rare opportunity of his meeting with Hu to convey the wish of Taiwan's people to have a dignified profile in the international community.

    Noting that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same Chinese race, Chiang said Taiwan looks forward to cooperating with the mainland in the international arena to promote their common cause and create a win-win situation.

    Television footage showed Chiang addressing Hu as "Mr. President" at the beginning of their meeting, but a report by China's official Xinhua News Agency issued at the end of the closed-door meeting said Hu met Chiang and other Taiwanese delegates in his capacity as general secretary of the Communist Party of China.

    China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has been reluctant to recognize the existence of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official title.

    The 30-minute meeting came after Chiang and his Chinese counterpart, Chen Yunlin of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), signed historic agreements earlier in the day on launching weekend charter flights and expanding tourism, signals of further progress in ties between the long-estranged rivals.

    In his opening remarks, Hu hailed the signing of the agreements on the basis of the so-called "1992 Consensus, " which allows both side to agree to disagree on the meaning of "one China."

    Stressing that the agreements on weekend charter flights and expansion of tourism mark a good start for improvement of cross-strait relations, Hu said they will contribute to the eventual opening of direct trade, transportation and postal links and progress in mutual cooperation. "The deals reached after a nine-year hiatus in bilateral contact also proved that both sides are wise and capable enough to resolve their longstanding disputes," he added.

    Hu also came up with four suggestions for future bilateral talks, including negotiations on an equal footing, mutual respect and goodwill communications, forging consensus and eliminating disputes, jointly seeking solution to issues that can be resolved with pragmatism.

    Before delivering his brief public opening speech, Hu shook hands all members of the SEF delegation, including two senior Taiwanese officials -- Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Fu Dong-cheng and Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Oliver F. L. Yu.

    Fu and Yu were the only two Taiwanese political appointees who have ever met with the paramount Chinese leader since the two sides split in 1949 following a bitter Chinese civil war.

    The SEF delegation, headed by Chiang, arrived in Beijing Wednesday for a resumption of institutionalized cross-strait dialogue that had been stalled since 1999 when then ROC President Lee Teng-hui described cross-strait ties as a special state-to-state relationship. The description angered Beijing which viewed it as amove to promote Taiwan independence.

    Relations remained frozen during the ensuing years which saw the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party take the helm of Taiwan's government.

    Icy relations gradually thawed after Taiwan's March 22 presidential election in which Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, which adopts a more China-friendly approach, won a landslide over his DPP rival.

    The expansion of charter flights was a key topic for the talks that began Thursday. Those flights are now limited to four annual traditional Chinese festivals and are usually packed with Taiwanese residents on the mainland returning home to visit family.

    The launch of weekend charter flights from July 4 and expansion of tourism mark a huge step forward in establishing contacts and mutual trust, Chiang said after signed the pacts at a state guesthouse in western Beijing Friday.

    Nevertheless, Chiang also told reporters at a news conference held following the signing of the accords that there is still a long way to go for normalization of cross-strait economic and trade exchange. "There are still many issues to be discussed including expanding weekend charter flights into regular charter flights," Chiang said.

    Taiwan has banned direct scheduled flights ever since it split from China in 1949.

    The new transport pact will allow for 36 charter flights to cross the Taiwan Strait running from Friday to Monday beginning on July 4. Flights will be shared equally between Chinese and Taiwanese airlines, servicing routes between the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing and Taiwan's capital, Taipei, and seven other cities on the island. Flights would be open to anyone carrying valid documents, a change from the past when they were limited to just Taiwanese and Chinese.

    A separate tourism agreement permits up to 3,000 Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan each day for stays of up to 10 days. According to the pact, up to 1 million Chinese tourists will be allowed to enter Taiwan for pleasure trips annually, well above the current level of about 80,000.

    The pacts were the first to be signed on Chinese soil. The previous SEF-ARATS agreements that set the tone for systematic engagements in the 1990s were signed in Singapore.

(By Chiang Chin-yeh, Chang Ming-kun and Sofia Wu)

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