Cross-Strait Dialog Resumes

(Coral Lee/tr. by David Mayer)

The two sides also broached a number of other topics-charter flights for freight shipments, more direct aviation routes, joint petroleum exploration-that will be on the agenda for an October meeting in Taipei. Controversy flared up, however, over unplanned discussion of the establishment of cross-strait representative offices.

The agreement on cross-strait charter flights calls for the first flight to take place on July 4, and imposes no special eligibility requirements for passengers. Anyone holding valid documentation, regardless of whether they are from Taiwan, mainland China, or a foreign country, can board the flights. Until direct aviation routes are opened up, the charter flights will continue to fly via Hong Kong, departing from eight airports in Taiwan (including Taipei Sungshan, Taoyuan, Taichung Chingchuankang, Kaohsiung Hsiaokang, and Taitung) and five airports at first in mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Nanjing), with the list to expand in the future as necessary to include such cities as Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Dalian. Each side will dispatch 18 round-trip charter flights per week.

Under the agreement, the two sides will commence talks on charter freight flights within three months, and begin talks on direct cross-strait aviation routes as soon as possible in order to reduce flight times and costs. For example, current charter flights from Taipei to Shanghai take 2.5 hours, while direct flights would only take an hour and 40 minutes.

The agreement for mainland Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, which takes effect on 18 July, allows for 3,000 arrivals a day in the first year, with possible adjustments in future years. All travelers will have to arrive, travel, and depart with a tour group, and will be allowed to stay for a maximum of ten days. In the beginning, participation in such tours will be limited to residents of Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Shanghai, and nine other provinces and municipalities who are gainfully employed or can prove personal worth of at least NT$200,000.

This is a big deal for the Taiwanese tourist industry, which has long been eager to take in tourists from mainland China, but the economic impact of the agreement will probably not be quite what some were hoping for due to restrictions on the number of tourists (about 1 million arrivals per year, compared with the 14 million mainland Chinese tourists who visit Hong Kong each year).

An unexpected tempest has blown up over the issue of establishing representative offices to handle visa matters, because this was not among the items that the MAC had authorized the SEF to negotiate. The establishment of representative offices involves sensitive issues with a bearing upon consular powers. With no consensus between the ruling and opposition parties, the fact that the issue came up in Beijing sparked a storm of heated commentary. After returning to Taiwan, SEF chairman Chiang indicated that the establishment of representative offices was "a matter for the distant future," and clarified that the delegation had only raised the matter so that it might be discussed at a later date, with recognition that policy discussions had yet to be carried out.

Commenting on the successful trip, Chiang expressed thanks to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, noting that the items discussed had already been planned out before, with excellent foundations laid while the DPP was in power. Talks had not gone anywhere only because of poor cross-strait atmospherics and lack of trust. The change in ruling party, said Chiang, was the one last little fillip that was needed to successfully move ahead within such as short space of time.

In evaluating this round of talks and how the negotiations progressed, many commentators have felt that Beijing's ARATS was able to play economic relations to its advantage, dangling tourism and charter flights as bait to control the agenda and put our side on the defensive. Measures that mainland-based Taiwanese businesses have urgently called for, such as the opening of additional aviation routes, direct flights, and charter freight flights, have been put on a back burner due to security concerns surrounding the August Beijing Olympics.

Nevertheless, observers have been generally pleased with the results of the talks. Former SEF secretary general Cheyne Chiu, who has taken part in previous cross-strait negotiations, notes that the meetings between Koo Chen-fu and Wang Daohan a decade ago were purely political in nature, while this month's talks dealt with concrete matters of policy and were thus different in terms of significance and level.

The delegation led by Chiang included officials from the Republic of China's MAC, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and Tourism Bureau, all of whom took part directly in dialog and negotiations. They were referred to simply as "advisors," but in fact their presence carried important political significance. In addition to helping with the implementation of policy, their participation represented a departure from the longstanding practice of working through people from the private sector acting as authorized representatives of the government. Now that direct contact between government officials from both sides has become the norm, we can expect future dialog and communications to proceed more quickly.

Lin Chong-pin (a professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, and former MAC vice chairman) expects the talks to reduce cross-strait military tension and spur closer economic interdependence over the short term. He also feels the talks have introduced a new model for cross-strait interaction, and this new model is urgently needed by both governments.

These developments mean that the Ma Ying-jeou administration will be able to make good on Ma's campaign promise to boost the economy by bringing in mainland Chinese tourists and getting direct weekend charter flights started by July, which is quite a feather in his cap. Mainland Chinese leader Hu Jintao, in the meantime, can report to an expectant nation that he has moved one step closer to reunification.

What's next?

Against the backdrop of a pragmatic atmosphere, the resumption of talks has brought a turning point in cross-strait relations, with initial breakthroughs achieved in the economic sphere. Nevertheless, the flap over representative offices seems to foreshadow more challenges ahead.

First, Chiang invited Chen Yunlin to visit Taiwan in the latter half of this year, but an "appropriate status" will have to be agreed upon for President Ma Ying-jeou. Because the two sides do not recognize each other, mainland China would never agree to call him "President Ma," and he can't be called "chairman" because he is no longer party chairman of the Kuomintang. If Chen Yunlin were to address him simply as "Mr. Ma," would that actually serve to get around controversy or avoid diminishing Ma's status? Would Taiwanese citizens be able to accept it? It's hard to say.

Li Yun-chieh, a professor in the Department of Public Administration at National Open University, notes that future negotiations will touch upon such issues as cross-strait financial supervision, an economic and trade agreement, a peace agreement, and Taiwan's freedom to operate in the international sphere. The more closely the question of national sovereignty is bound up with any particular issue, the more complex the negotiations become. The two sides currently have a tacit agreement to "shelve controversy and seek convergence," but what things are non-negotiable to the two sides? Taiwan needs to develop a clear position on this question.

Before Chiang set off for Beijing, President Ma Ying-jeou expressed his hope that the talks would be "one small step for the SEF and ARATS, one giant leap for cross-strait ties." Now that we've made that giant leap, we need all the more to make sure that cross-strait relations are heading in a positive direction, and towards closer friendship. We need to see to it that cross-strait contacts do in fact generate goodwill and substantive benefits. But this isn't just a task for the government. People outside the government also need to make an effort.