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Details of new round of cross-strait talks not yet decided: SEF

ROC Central News Agency

2011/05/17 17:52:09

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Cross-Taiwan Strait negotiators have not yet decided when and where the next round of high-level talks between Taiwan and China will take place, Taiwan's top negotiator with China, Chiang Pin-kung, said Tuesday.

Those decisions will be made only after the negotiators have worked out the details of an investment protection agreement and a nuclear safety accord, which are expected to be signed at the next meeting, Chiang said.

However, Chiang expressed the hope that the next round of high-level cross-strait meetings, which will be the seventh, will be held in the first half of this year.

Chiang, chairman of Taiwan's intermediary Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), delivered a speech in Taipei Tuesday at the opening of a forum on the prospects of cross-strait economic and industrial cooperation.

He noted that in 2010, the two sides signed a historic Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that paved the way for closer economic exchanges across the strait. This year, China launched its 12th five-year development plan, which provides opportunities for Taiwanese businesspeople to expand their investment operations on the mainland, he said.

The ambitious five-year development plan is poised to turn China from the world's largest factory into the world's largest market, he said. It will also offer Taiwanese businessmen a golden opportunity to upgrade or change the types of businesses they operate in China, he said.

Taiwan and China's economic structures are basically complementary, with Taiwan's competitive edge being creative and innovative capability, the ability to explore overseas markets, and expertise in industrial research and development, he said.

On the China side, the advantages are a huge and diverse domestic market, a large and cheap labor force, huge land resources and unprecedented administrative efficiency, he said.

The sixth round of high-level cross-strait talks took place in Taipei last December, with Chiang and his Chinese counterpart -- Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) -- leading the Taiwan and China delegations, respectively.

During that meeting, the two sides inked a bilateral agreement on cooperation in medical and health care services and agreed to activate a cross-strait commission to address ECFA-related negotiations and consultations.

The meetings between SEF and ARATS heads have become part of institutionalized talks between the two quasi-official intermediary bodies in the absence of official ties across the Taiwan Strait. (By Lin Shu-yuan and Deborah Kuo) enditem /pc