4th round of cross-Straits talks starts
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Negotiators of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan began a new round of talks Tuesday with three agreements expected to be signed.
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President of the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chen Yunlin (L) shakes hands with Chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chiang Pin-kung before their talks in Taichung, Dec. 22, 2009. |
The mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which handle cross-Strait issues on behalf of their respective authorities, held talks in the central Taiwan city of Taichung.
The topics included labor cooperation in the fishing industry, cooperation in inspection and quarantine of farm produce, and cooperation in standard measuring, inspection and certification.
"All the topics we choose to discuss are closely related to the interests of people," said Chen Yunlin, ARATS president, at the opening of the talks. "The only way to measure our efforts is whether the agreements really benefit people across the Taiwan Straits."
In the previous three rounds of talks since June 2008, the two sides reached nine agreements concerning transport, trade, tourism, cooperation in finance and fighting crime among other issues.
"We have done many things in the past one and half years that should have been done long before. We will work with our Taiwan counterparts to make sure the agreements are implemented and to close loopholes in them." Chen said.
SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kun said Taiwan and mainland must jointly tackle economic challenges, and the establishment of a cross-Strait economic framework should not be delayed.
He called on both sides to contribute to economic prosperity and development as well as long-term peace and stability.
The agreements reached at previous meetings between SEF and ARATS had brought substantial benefits for the normalization of cross-Strait communication and benefited people on both sides, he said.
However, there was room for improvement and both sides needed to carry out further negotiations, he said.
He called for both sides across the Taiwan Strait to continue efforts to push for the development of systematic talks and promote cross-Strait communication and cooperation.
The ARATS and SEF are expected to discuss future negotiations on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), although talks on the agreement were not on the agenda of this meeting.
The two sides reached a basic consensus on avoiding double taxation and strengthening taxation cooperation in a preparatory meeting Monday afternoon.
