SEF mulls locations for offices in China
ROC Central News Agency
2013/01/23 22:19:38
Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said Wednesday that it would prefer to choose Chinese cities where most Taiwanese business operators and students are congregated as places to locate its China offices.
'The purpose of establishing reciprocal offices between Taiwan and China is to provide services,' said SEF Chairman Lin Join-sane, explaining why metropolitan cities are more suitable from Taiwan's point of view.
Both the semi-official SEF and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), are discussing procedures for realizing the consensus that reciprocal offices can be established by each side, Lin said at a year-end media briefing.
Further talks on the issue will be carried out in the near future to finalize the details, he said.
The opening of SEF-ARATS offices is in line with President Ma Ying-jeou's China policy and is hoped to enhance cross-strait ties.
However, further amendments to a major statute on Taiwan-China exchanges are needed before Taiwan can meet such a goal.
Lin said a review on the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, which governs legal matters between the people from both sides, is currently being conducted by the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, Lin said Taiwan and China are in the final stages of sealing a cooperation agreement in the service industry.
The pact, which is part of the follow-up negotiations to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between both sides in 2010, is expected to be concluded soon, although several details are yet to be hammered out, he said.
The SEF will make sure that the agreement conforms to the best interests of the Taiwanese people, Lin said.
(By Scarlett Chai and Lee Hsin-Yin)
ENDITEM/J/tc
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