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China to resolve Taiwan's FTA bids appropriately: negotiator
2010/06/24 22:41:33 |
Taipei, June 24 (CNA) A senior Chinese negotiator with Taiwan said Thursday that Beijing will resolve appropriately issues regarding Taiwan's desire to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with its major trade partners.
Zheng Lizhong, vice president of China's quasi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), made the remarks at a news conference held after the end of preparatory talks with Taiwanese negotiators for a fifth meeting between ARATS President Chen Yunlin and his Taiwanese counterpart, Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung.
The main agenda of the June 28-30 meeting in Chongqing, China is the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) , which mainly deals with tariff concessions for bilateral trade.
In promoting the ECFA initiative, Taiwan hopes the deal with China will help convince its other major trade partners, such as the United States, Japan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union, to sign full-fledged FTAs or FTA-like agreements with it to facilitate its inclusion in mounting regional economic integration, particularly in the wake of the inauguration of the "ASEAN plus China" free trade bloc early this year.
Asked about China's attitude or position on the issue, Zheng appeared reluctant to go into detail and merely repeated previous statements made by other Chinese officials, saying that as far China is concerned, the ECFA initiative is aimed at forging a closer cross-strait economic cooperative mechanism and exploring a feasible channel to connect the cross-strait interactive mechanism with existing Asia-Pacific regional trade blocs.
Against this backdrop, Zheng said, China will properly address the issue to help create an environment in which Taiwan can tackle opportunities and challenges arising from growing cross-strait economic integration.
Earlier this year, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was asked a similar question at a regular press news conference. At the time, Ma said China does not object to Taiwan developing non-official trade ties, but objects to Taiwan signing official agreements with other countries.
His remarks drew a strong backlash in Taiwan. Another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jiang Yu, later urged the media not to "overinterpret" Ma's remarks, in an attempt to calm the ripples. (By Liu Cheng-ching and Sofia Wu) ENDITEM/J
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