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China urged to respect Taiwan's right to join world bodies

ROC Central News Agency

2010/07/22 22:42:13

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) Premier Wu Den-yih urged China Thursday to refrain from blocking Taiwan's bids to join non-political non-government organizations (NGOs) in order to forge mutual trust for expanded engagements in the future.

Despite improvements in cross-Taiwan Strait relations over the past two years under President Ma Ying-jeou's "modus vivendi" diplomatic approach, Wu said, Taiwan still faces obstructions from China in its quest for representation in non-political NGOs such as those dedicated to climate change, global warming and civil aviation safety.

To help with the further development of bilateral ties, Wu went on, he keenly hopes China can understand the implication of Ma's call for the two sides to "face reality, accrue mutual trust, seek common ground despite differences and create win-win scenarios."

On media reports that China is considering legislating a "Taiwan law" to pave the way for establishing an official body to deal with sensitive cross-strait political affairs, Wu said the two sides will be able to address such an issue only when China fully comprehends the profound meaning of Ma's call.

The reports quoted Sun Zhe, a Chinese scholar, as saying that China plans to enact such a law in preparation for the two sides setting up official bodies to replace their current quasi-official intermediary bodies -- Taipei's Straits Exchange Foundation and Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits -- to handle future bilateral talks on the signing of a peace agreement, Taiwan's quest for greater international space and the status of the Republic of China -- Taiwan's official national title.

Asked for his views on the reports, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Liu Te-hsun said Taiwan's authorities have not received any information about any such development.

At the moment, there are still many cross-strait trade and economic issues pending negotiation, Liu said, adding that Taiwan hopes to focus on those issues first.

One of the most pressing is the formation of a commission required under the terms of the recently signed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) . This body will mainly deal with ECFA-related issues. (By Chou Yung-chieh, Liu Cheng-ching and Sofia Wu) ENDITEM/J