MAC: Taiwan is pleased that the U.S. government has on various occasions urged China to negotiate with the Taiwanese government
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen M. Young delivered a speech today (November 21, 2006), in which he expressed hopes for the future development of cross-strait economic and trade relations. In this regard, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) indicates that the Taiwanese government has made great efforts over these years to promote the normalized development of cross-strait economic and trade relations and Taiwan’s position is fully consistent with that of the U.S. government as represented by Director Young. In the future, Taiwan will continue to urge the Chinese authorities to negotiate with Taiwan on cross-strait economic and trade issues at the soonest possible time. This is aimed at enabling all parties involved to benefit from economic and trade exchanges on the foundation of normalized relations between both sides across the Strait. The MAC is also pleased that the U.S. government has on various occasions continued to urge China to negotiate with the Taiwanese government.
The MAC emphasizes that over these years the relevant responsible authorities in Taiwan have simultaneously implemented various measures to promote improvement and strengthening of the domestic investment environment, to provide services to enterprises in operating their businesses from a global perspective, and to assist Taiwanese businesspeople in managing their business operations in China with a view to ensuring the long-term and autonomous development of Taiwan's economy. The government, therefore, has always considered cross-strait economic and trade relations to be an important link in Taiwan's global presence. However, it has also frequently reminded the various sectors that it is not the correct approach for Taiwan to narrowly focus its economic and trade development on cross-strait economic and trade exchanges.
With regard to the promotion of cross-strait economic and trade relations, the MAC indicates that aside from facilitating orderly and normal economic and trade interactions across the Strait, Taiwan cannot avoid China’s hostility toward Taiwan and its attempts to downgrade Taiwan’s status. Therefore, the ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan have long established a consensus on cautiously and steadily promoting the normalization of cross-strait economic and trade relations. It is due to this consideration that the Taiwanese government has maintained a consistent position regarding the measures to be enacted for cross-strait interactions. That is, since the measures concerned will not only involve the exercise of government authority by both sides across the Strait, but will also affect Taiwan’s overall economic development, they must be formulated under the precondition that both sides should have fully engaged in negotiations and reached a consensus prior to adopting any measures. Currently, the government has been promoting the issues of opening up of tourism in Taiwan for Chinese tourists, the implementation of cross-strait charter flights, and others based on this principle and position. To date, certain progress has also been achieved in this regard.
Based on the achievement of cross-strait consensus on implementing four types of specialized charter flights, the Taiwanese government hopes the U.S. government will continue to urge the Chinese authorities to actively conduct negotiations with Taiwan, without setting any preconditions, on the issues of direct “Three Links,” currency settlement, financial supervision and management, as well as investment protection. This is aimed at facilitating the normalization of cross-strait economic and trade relations as soon as possible.