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Taiwan, China still in talks on titles of MOU signatories

ROC Central News Agency

2009/11/12 15:05:45
Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are still in talks on the titles to be used by the signatories of a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for bilateral cooperation on financial supervision, a senior Taiwanese official said Thursday.

"If China fails to respect our basic principles in this regard, we would rather not sign the accord, " said Sean C. Chen, chairman of the Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission.

Fielding questions at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Finance Committee, Chen was asked who will represent Taiwan at the signing of the much-anticipated MOU with China.

Chen said the document will be signed in his name.

"We have asked that my full official title be spelt out on the document, but the other side has not agreed, " Chen told legislators at the session.

Cross-strait negotiations over the MOU on banking, insurance and securities were expected to be completed in late June, but they are still in progress, which has given rise to questions in the legislature about the reasons for the delay.

Chen said negotiations on the technical aspects of the memorandum have been completed.

"What remain unsolved are the non-financial issues... which the two sides are still negotiating... and which may take some wisdom to address," he added.

According to Chen, the word "China" is included in his Chinese counterpart's official title, while his own title carries the words "the Financial Supervisory Commission under the Executive Yuan." Beijing, however, is opposed to having the words "the Financial Supervisory Commission under the Executive Yuan" appear on the document.

According to international practices and precedents, Chen said, financial MOUs tend to be signed by the financial supervisory agencies of the signatory countries.

"I would rather not sign the document if it's going to put our national dignity on the line," Chen added.

The MOU is mainly a declaration that outlines financial regulatory systems to pave the way for the two sides to reciprocally approve operations by their banking, insurance and securities institutions.

Chen said the cross-strait MOU will not follow the prevailing format of an "Exchange of Letters" which is usually a single English version of the document that is signed by both parties.

"There will be two versions of the cross-strait MOU -- one in traditional Chinese and the other in simplified Chinese -- and they will both have to be signed by the two sides," Chen explained.

(By Kao Chao-fen, Cheng Yun-hsuan and Sofia Wu) enditem /pc