China , Taiwan officials agree to plan official dialogue

Monday, October 27, 2008 at 7:53 pm

China , Taiwan officials agree to plan official dialogue Taiwan and China agreed Monday to hold a second round of
high-level talks in Taipei next week, despite threats by
pro-independence activists to disrupt the meeting.

“The Chinese mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan
Straits (ARATS) chairman Chen Yunlin will lead a delegation to Taiwan
from December 3 to 7, the first meeting on the island between the two
parties,” the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange
Foundation, who led the 11-member delegation for a one-day preparatory
round of talks held in the Chinese border city of Shenzhen, told
Taiwanese media Chen was to lead a 60-member delegation in next week’s
talks in Taipei.

Chen’s visit comes after a mob manhandled his deputy, Zhang Mingqing, who visited Taiwan last week.

A lawmaker from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) allegedly incited a mob to carry out the attack, in which Zhang
was shoved to the ground.

Taiwan’s top security officials vowed Monday to uphold absolute safety of Chen and his delegation during their stay in Taiwan.

“Security measures to be adopted will be so tight not even a drop of
water could come through,” said National Security Bureau director Tsai
Chao-ming, while police said a 7,000-strong police will be deployed
force to ensure the safety of Chen and other delegates.

DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan, however, said the party and its
supporters would not let Chen leave Taiwan so easily. “We will follow
him everywhere to voice our protest against China and to show our
dissatisfaction over the policy of Ma Ying-jeou’s government to lean
towards China,” he said.

Since President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Nationalist Party
took office in May, the DPP has been upset over his policy to engage
China, viewing it as his attempt to make Taiwan return to the Chinese
fold.

Chen will be the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan
since 1949, when Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil
War.

Chen and his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kun are expected to
discuss and sign pacts on direct shipping, postal services, expansion
of weekend charter flights and the safety of China’s food exports to
Taiwan. (dpa)