2. Cross-Strait Relations
Reuters ("CHINA FIRM ON CONDITIONS FOR TAIWAN TRADE LINKS," Beijing, 8/29/01)
reported that in response to a proposal by a Taiwan government urging talks on
opening direct commercial ties, the PRC ruled out direct trade links with Taiwan
on August 29 unless the island embraced its "one China" principle. The PRC's
official Xinhua news agency said the "one China" principle was not negotiable.
"Cross-Strait Relations" (NAPSNet Daily Report, August 29, US)
Raymond Burghardt, Director of the American Institute on Taiwan (AIT), told the
American Chamber of Commerce on August 27 that he backed Taiwan President Chen
Shui-bian's views on the so-called "92 consensus." Burghardt said that before
the 1992 talks began, each side exchanged faxes, which had common language in
some areas and differing views in others. Philip Yang, a political science
professor at National Taiwan University, said that Burghardt's outspokenness was
unusual for an AIT director, and would help Chen resist pressure from the
opposition. Yang added, "It might also help him to get Washington to advise
Beijing to separate economics and politics."
"US-Taiwan Relations" (NAPSNet Daily Report, August 28, US)
Liao Tsang-lung, a section chief at Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum
Corporation, said on August 27 that Taiwan and the PRC may be close to signing a
contract for joint oil exploration in the Taiwan Strait. Liao said that the
company is expected to finalize a feasibility study on the exploration project
soon and submit it to the Cabinet for approval. Xiao Weidong, a spokesman for
China National Offshore Oil Company, the PRC's third- largest oil producer, also
confirmed that a deal was being discussed. Xiao said that Taiwan was supposed
to pay for the exploration, since the potential reserves of oil and gas were
owned by the PRC.
"Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation" (NAPSNet Daily Report, August 28, US)
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on August 26 accepted the advice of a panel of
economic advisers to boost economic ties with the PRC. The group urged Chen to
relax limits on how much Taiwanese can invest in the PRC, to let Taiwanese banks
set up branches in the PRC, and to ease restrictions on PRC investments in
Taiwan. Chen said that his government would spend the next two weeks figuring
out how to implement the suggestions. Taiwan's top PRC policy-maker, Tsai Ing-
wen, said that the policy was "a significant step forward" toward trying to
improve relations with the PRC.
"Cross-Straits Economic Relations " (NAPSNet Daily Report, August 27, US)