Military confidence building measures with China must wait: official

ROC Central News Agency

2012/11/08 22:38:15

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) The time is not yet ripe for establishing military confidence building measures between Taiwan and China, a Taiwanese defense official said Thursday, in response to China's proposal to negotiate such a mechanism.

The current situation in the Taiwan-China relationship "is not mature" enough for building a military mutual trust mechanism across the Taiwan Strait, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he told CNA.

Luo's remarks were a response to a prepared report by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao, who is also China's president, at the opening of the party's 18th national congress in Beijing earlier in the day.

Hu's report suggested that Taiwan and China could negotiate a military mutual trust mechanism to stabilize the situation in the Taiwan Strait and negotiate a cross-strait peace agreement to begin new prospects for peaceful development of ties between both sides.

Luo, however, reiterated that the government's policy on Taiwan-China relationship is based on the principles of "pressing matters before less pressing ones, easily resolved issues before difficult ones, and economic matters before political."

Noting that the government is focusing on trade and cultural issues with China, Luo said the ministry will follow the agenda set by the government on cross-strait negotiations.

(By Elaine Hou)