Taiwan calls for cross-strait pact on security screening mechanism
ROC Central News Agency
2014/01/28 16:53:55
Taipei, Jan. 28 (CNA) Taiwan's top official in charge of China affairs said Tuesday that a cross-Taiwan Strait pact on a national security screening mechanism should be established on the existing foundation of cross-strait agreements.
The mechanism will first be applied in the case of an agreement on meteorological cooperation and seismic monitoring that will be signed in the next round of negotiations between the two sides, said Wang Yu-chi, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council.
China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation have negotiated 19 agreements over the past five years.
At a year-end press conference, Wang said every cross-strait agreement in the future will undergo two-phase screening.
First, the MAC will send the agreement to the Executive Yuan for screening by government ministers, then it will be submitted to the National Security Council where independent experts and scholars will ensure that it does not pose a threat to national security, he said.
While national security has been taken into consideration in the case of all 19 cross-strait agreements so far, the aim this time is to institute a systematic mechanism, Wang said.
He plans to visit China next month for the first time since he assumed his current post.
His trip will also mark the first official contact in six decades between the two former bitter rivals. (Scarlett Chai and Y.L. Kao)
Enditem/pc
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