Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Jaushieh Joseph Wu today (August 7, 2005) received Daniel Walther, financial chief of the National Board of Directors of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and five other party members. Chairman Wu urged the Chinese authorities to allow Taiwan to fly over China’s territorial air space, and to negotiate with the Taiwanese government on the cargo charter flights and the passenger charter flights for special holidays and under specific demands as soon as possible.
Chairman Wu indicated that Taiwan showed its goodwill again today in the wake of Premier Frank Hsieh’s remarks on June 13 with regard to Taiwan’s intention to conduct negotiations with China on cargo charter flights, Taiwanese fruit exports to China, and relaxation of visits to Taiwan by Chinese tourists. Chairman Wu especially urged the Chinese authorities to conduct negotiations with Taiwan as soon as possible on the cargo charter flights and the passenger charter flights implemented on special holidays and under specific demands as proposed by Premier Frank Hsieh today. He also hoped China will approve Taiwan’s application for flying its aircraft over China’s territorial air space.
Based on the CDU’s experiences in dealing with the communist parties, the six visiting CDU members unanimously indicated that, “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is extremely difficult to deal with.”
Chairman Wu emphasized that Taiwan is strongly suppressed by the CCP “who are difficult to deal with” in international arena. Futhermore, Taiwan is militarily threatened by China’s deployment of over 700 ballistic missiles and 50 submarines against Taiwan. However, MAC still hopes that cross-strait relations will be improved through negotiations on substantive issues.
Chairman Wu again expressed welcome and gratitude to the CDU’s friendship toward Taiwan, assistance in Taiwan’s participation at the World Health Organization, and calls for the European Union to maintain the military embargo on China. Moreover, he urged the visiting delegation to continue to speak in favor of Taiwan’s interests. The meeting took place under friendly atmosphere and lasted approximately one-hour.