Mainland and Taiwan do some strait talking

By Lydia Chen and Li Xinran  |   2008-6-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MEETING for the first formal talks since 1999, the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation agreed yesterday to set up representative offices to coordinate continuing contacts.

The pact came on the first day of talks in Beijing between the mainland association and its Taiwan counterpart.

The offices, on the mainland and in Taiwan, will be responsible for facilitating exchanges and traveling across the Strait, said Pang Chien-kuo, the SEF deputy secretary-general.

Details will be finalized in further meetings, he added.

SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-Lian said that the two sides also reached an agreement on weekend charter flights and tourism in yesterday's talks.

"On July 4, we will have the first large group of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan to coincide with the kickoff of weekend charter flights," he said.

The accord opens the way for 36 charter flights to cross the 160-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait every weekend. An agreement is expected to be signed today.

Residents and enterprises from the mainland and Taiwan have called for regular chartered flights on weekends and faster cargo transport services to cope with increasing cross-Strait exchanges.

Chen Yunlin, chairman of ARATS, accepted an invitation to visit Taiwan this year. Chen said he appreciated the invitation from Chiang Pin-kun, chairman of the SEF, and will lead a delegation to Taiwan within the year.

Wang Yi, the head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, yesterday afternoon met Chiang, who headed the Taiwan delegation.

Chen and Chiang started their talks about 9am in Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

"As wished by people on the two sides, the talks have resumed after nearly 10 years," Chen said. "Many problems in economic, cultural and social fields need to be addressed after a long time was idled away."