Top Cross-Strait Negotiator Shrugs Off Threats Over Visit
Chen Yunlin says Taiwan trip is necessary for better ties
Minnie Chan 31 October 2008
Chen Yunlin , the mainland’s top cross-strait negotiator, stressed yesterday that even though concerns over his safety are increasing, he must go to Taiwan for the second round of cross-strait talks because nine years have been wasted.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have waited 15 years for our meetings to reopen ... and we have wasted so much valuable time and accumulated so many problems to solve after stopping negotiations for nine years,” Mr. Chen, the chairman of the mainland’s semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Arats), told Taiwanese reporters yesterday in Beijing.
He said he had been alerted that he would face protests and ought to be careful because they could put him in danger.
“Countless calls from across the nation [I received] have reminded me: watch out for your safety,” Mr. Chen said. “But I have to go ... because there is no reason for me to postpone meetings with Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation [SEF], as our talks will benefit both cross-strait relations and people in Taiwan facing the current global financial tsunami.”
Mr. Chen’s deputy, Zhang Mingqing , was shoved to the ground and beaten on the head while visiting a Confucian temple last week in the southern city of Tainan by pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) activists during an academic exchange.
The DPP and its supporters have vowed to repeat the series of mass protests during Mr. Chen’s visit, which starts on Monday.
About half a million protesters turned out last Saturday for a demonstration against the central government and the administration of Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s mainland-friendly president.
Some DPP activists protested yesterday outside the home of Mr. Chen’s counterpart, Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the SEF, in Nantou county.
Mr. Chen, who became chairman of Arats in May after retiring as director of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, reiterated that his meeting with Mr. Chiang would avoid politics and focus on economic issues.
“My mission [to Taiwan] is very clear and simple. We will touch neither cross-strait political issues nor domestic politics on the island,” Mr. Chen said. He repeated that his task was to discuss economic issues and to sign four agreements dealing with chartered cargo flights, direct maritime shipping, direct postal services and food-safety co-operation.
With Mr. Ma hinting on Wednesday that he would receive Mr. Chen in his capacity as president of the Republic of China - a controversial issue - Mr. Chen refused yesterday to reveal how he would address Mr. Ma.
Arats on Monday sent an apology letter to the SEF over the food-safety scare caused by dairy imports from the mainland. The were found to contain excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine, which had been added to fool protein tests. The chairman again apologised to the Taiwanese people through the media.
“I hope our Taiwanese media friends would pass my apology [over the milk scandal] to the Taiwanese people before I set out to the island,” he said.
It is the first time the chairman has apologised for the tainted-milk scandal, but he declined to reveal whether the mainland side would compensate Taiwanese victims.
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Top Cross-Strait Negotiator Shrugs Off Threats Over Visit
Chen Yunlin says Taiwan trip is necessary for better ties
Minnie Chan
31 October 2008
Chen Yunlin , the mainland’s top cross-strait negotiator, stressed yesterday that even though concerns over his safety are increasing, he must go to Taiwan for the second round of cross-strait talks because nine years have been wasted.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have waited 15 years for our meetings to reopen ... and we have wasted so much valuable time and accumulated so many problems to solve after stopping negotiations for nine years,” Mr. Chen, the chairman of the mainland’s semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Arats), told Taiwanese reporters yesterday in Beijing.
He said he had been alerted that he would face protests and ought to be careful because they could put him in danger.
“Countless calls from across the nation [I received] have reminded me: watch out for your safety,” Mr. Chen said. “But I have to go ... because there is no reason for me to postpone meetings with Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation [SEF], as our talks will benefit both cross-strait relations and people in Taiwan facing the current global financial tsunami.”
Mr. Chen’s deputy, Zhang Mingqing , was shoved to the ground and beaten on the head while visiting a Confucian temple last week in the southern city of Tainan by pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) activists during an academic exchange.
The DPP and its supporters have vowed to repeat the series of mass protests during Mr. Chen’s visit, which starts on Monday.
About half a million protesters turned out last Saturday for a demonstration against the central government and the administration of Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s mainland-friendly president.
Some DPP activists protested yesterday outside the home of Mr. Chen’s counterpart, Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the SEF, in Nantou county.
Mr. Chen, who became chairman of Arats in May after retiring as director of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, reiterated that his meeting with Mr. Chiang would avoid politics and focus on economic issues.
“My mission [to Taiwan] is very clear and simple. We will touch neither cross-strait political issues nor domestic politics on the island,” Mr. Chen said. He repeated that his task was to discuss economic issues and to sign four agreements dealing with chartered cargo flights, direct maritime shipping, direct postal services and food-safety co-operation.
With Mr. Ma hinting on Wednesday that he would receive Mr. Chen in his capacity as president of the Republic of China - a controversial issue - Mr. Chen refused yesterday to reveal how he would address Mr. Ma.
Arats on Monday sent an apology letter to the SEF over the food-safety scare caused by dairy imports from the mainland. The were found to contain excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine, which had been added to fool protein tests. The chairman again apologised to the Taiwanese people through the media.
“I hope our Taiwanese media friends would pass my apology [over the milk scandal] to the Taiwanese people before I set out to the island,” he said.
It is the first time the chairman has apologised for the tainted-milk scandal, but he declined to reveal whether the mainland side would compensate Taiwanese victims.
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