Beijing, Taipei agree on Mainland China visitor transits through Taiwan

TAIPEI - The third round of discussions between the heads of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, held in Kinmen County (Quemoy) have ended in agreement on a number of key issues between MAC Minister, Andrew Hsia, and his TAO counterpart, Zhang Zhijun.

These include allowing Mainland Chinese visitors to transit through Taiwan; co-operation on extradition of major economic criminals; establishment of reciprocal representative offices; institutionalizing cross-strait negotiations; reinforcing exchanges between the two sides; and stepping up co-operation on Kinmen-related issues.
The need for Taiwan’s “dignified and equitable participation” in the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was also discussed.
Zhang reaffirmed the commitment of Beijing to what is known as the 1992 consensus between Taiwan and mainland China, and said they  should expand negotiations while seeking to understand respective differences.
“Both sides should keep in mind that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations is the right course of action and in the best interests of the people,” he said.
The Kinmen meeting was the third between MAC and TAO heads - the first last was in February 2014 in Nanjing and the second in June 2014 in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.
Implementation plans for measures such as facilitating the transit scheme, curbing illegal fishing and sand dredging, and piping drinking water from mainland China to Kinmen will be reviewed in the lead up to the next MAC-TAO meeting in mainland China later this year. www.taiwantoday.tw (ATI).