MAC, TAO heads wrap up meeting in Guangzhou

2015/10/16

The latest official meeting between the heads of Taipei City-based Mainland Affairs Council and Beijing-headquartered Taiwan Affairs Office concluded Oct. 14 in Guangzhou, mainland China.

MAC Minister Andrew Hsia and his TAO counterpart Zhang Zhijun reached agreement on a number of key issues, including institutionalizing cross-strait negotiations and reinforcing official exchanges between the two sides.

Taiwan’s participation in regional integration initiatives such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was also discussed, along with ongoing negotiations on finalizing a cross-strait trade in goods agreement.

“Going forward, we will continue working to ensure peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait on the basis of the 1992 consensus,” Hsia said. “This principle has laid the foundation over the last seven years for Taipei and Beijing to make significant headway in shelving disputes and pursuing a win-win situation.

“Both sides should keep in mind that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations is the right course of action and in the best interests of the people.”

Other matters broached during the meeting include Taipei’s concern over the decision by Beijing to introduce e-travel passes for ROC nationals in place of paper-based ones. “We have voiced our discontent to our mainland Chinese counterparts on this issue and will keep a close eye on related developments,” the minister said.

Regarding the plan to allow mainland Chinese to transit through Taiwan, Hsia said the two sides have yet to reach an agreement on a timetable. He added the MAC will continue to pursue communication on bolstering advances in cross-strait travel and people-to-people exchanges.

The Guangzhou meeting marks the fourth official interaction between MAC and TAO heads following the first in February 2014 in Nanjing, the second in June of the same year in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City, and the third this May in outlying Kinmen County.

After the meeting, Hsia visited Guangzhou’s Huanghuagang—or Yellow Flower Mound—Mausoleum, which was built to commemorate 72 revolutionaries who gave their lives in 1911 to help establish the ROC. He said the site serves as a salient reminder to both sides to honor historical truths.

“We have agreed to share documents and conduct joint research with the aim of accurately presenting important historical events like the Second Sino-Japanese War [1937-1945],” Hsia said.

“This will be carried out on the basis of equality, openness, reciprocity and unrestricted access. And we expect two-way exchanges and interactions to further expand in this manner across a wide spectrum of areas.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=237802&ctNode=2194&mp=9)