ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said the government has no plans to launch political consultations with mainland China any time soon, nor is there a timetable for an official visit to Beijing, according to a Presidential Office statement issued Sept. 13.
“The time is not yet ripe for leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to meet,” Ma was quoted as saying.
“Thus, we see no immediate reason to initiate political talks with mainland China, considering that there are other pressing subjects requiring attention from both sides,” the president added.
The statement came in response to media reports alleging that a high-level National Security Council official said the government had already made preparations for cross-strait peace talks.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi said no NSC official had made such a statement to the media.
The issue has drawn much attention after King Pu-tsung, Ma’s top campaign aide, reportedly said in a U.S. interview with Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television that a visit by the president to mainland China in his capacity as Kuomintang chairman could be possible if he is elected to a second term.
Fan Chiang said Ma has repeatedly stated that he will make official visits overseas only in his capacity as ROC president, regardless of the destination.
As to cross-strait negotiations, the principles of “first economics, then politics; first the urgent, then the less urgent; and first the easy, then the difficult” have never changed, according to Fan Chiang. (THN)
Write to Rachel Chan at rachelchan@mail.gio.gov.tw