Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

Historic Talks Bring China, Taiwan Closer Than Ever

First high-level talks since 1949 yield trade agreements amid opposition protests

Share

(Newser) – The first high-level talks between China and Taiwan in 60 years have set aside politics in favor of building trade ties, Reuters reports. Negotiations in Taipei sidestepped the sovereignty question and yielded 13 agreements to triple the number of cross-strait flights, allow direct cargo shipments, improve food safety, and normalize financial relations between the once-hostile neighbors.

Cross-strait ties have thawed rapidly since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was elected this year, but pro-independence groups worry things are moving too fast. The arrival of China's envoy—the highest ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan since the Communists sent their defeated rivals fleeing over the strait in 1949—was marked by thousands of protesters accusing Ma of selling out the island.

China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, offers water to his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kung, unseen, at a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, today.
China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, offers water to his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kung, unseen, at a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, today.   (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, left, and Chiang Ping-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, toast during a dinner yesterday in Taipei, Taiwan.
China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, left, and Chiang Ping-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, toast during a dinner yesterday in Taipei, Taiwan.   (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
A Taiwanese protester wears a headband reading
A Taiwanese protester wears a headband reading "Taiwan is my country" during a rally protesting the visit from China's top negotiator with Taiwan.   (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan's former president, Chen Shui-bian, visits protesters as Chen Yunlin, China's top negotiator with Taiwan, arrives in Taipei, Taiwan.
Taiwan's former president, Chen Shui-bian, visits protesters as Chen Yunlin, China's top negotiator with Taiwan, arrives in Taipei, Taiwan.   (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, standing at left, shakes hands with his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kung at a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, today.
China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, standing at left, shakes hands with his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kung at a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, today.   (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.6.09
Galleon Scandal: Shocked, Shocked by Insider Trading
11.5.09
Rupert Murdoch Is Mad but Cute
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

41 Stories

 Taiwan Panda 
 Keepers Seek 
 Love Doc's Advice  

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, expert counsels

3 hours, 14 minutes ago
(Newser) - Ahead of breeding season in February, the Taipei Zoo is soliciting expert advice for getting its two giant pandas in the mood. A researcher dispatched from their native China found Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan—presented last year as a symbol of thawing relations between the countries—just a little... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • breeding • Taiwan • Taipei • Wolong National Nature Reserve • giant pandas • Tuan Tuan • Yuan Yuan • Taipei Zoo

 Obama Tells Lama to Stay Away 

Move seen as an effort to avoid annoying the Chinese

Oct 5, 09 7:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a move seemingly designed to appease China, US officials have asked the Dalai Lama not to meet with President Obama when he visits Washington this week. Typically, the Lama “drops in” on the White House whenever he’s in the capital, but Obama doesn’t want to meet... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • Barack Obama • diplomacy • Hu Jintao • Tibet • Dalai Lama • foreign policy

 Dalai Lama to Visit Taiwan 


Aug 26, 09 9:30 PM CDT
(AP) - Taiwan has agreed to let the Dalai Lama visit the island to comfort survivors of a devastating typhoon, a decision that could anger China. Beijing considers the Buddhist spiritual leader a "splittist" for promoting autonomy in the Chinese region of Tibet. Allowing him to visit Taiwan could undermine the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • Taiwan • Dalai Lama • mudslide • Ma Ying-jeou • Typhoon Morakot

(Newser) - Flooding and mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot killed over 500 people in Taiwan, President Ma Ying-jeou said today in the country's first firm estimate of casualty figures. Some 400 people are believed to have been buried alive in a single village, the BBC reports. The military has now reopened a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Taiwan • typhoon • disaster • Ma Ying-jeou • Typhoon Morakot

  Taiwan Mudslide Buries 500 
 in Wake of Typhoon 

Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, China hit; at least 35 dead

Aug 10, 09 9:48 AM CDT
(AP) - A typhoon-spawned mudslide engulfed a mountain village in southern Taiwan, burying up to 600 people, a police official and a rescued villager said today. Earlier, Typhoon Morakot had struck the Philippines, leaving at least 22 dead. Another typhoon slammed into Japan's west coast today, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • weather • Japan • severe weather • Taiwan • storm • evacuation • Philippines • typhoon • natural disaster • mudslide • Typhoon Morakot

41 Stories


Taiwan tense as talks begin
Financial Times (UK)

China envoy promises pair of pandas
Xinhua (China)

Taiwan opposition launches sit-in
Taiwan News


World 
TwitterFollow @NewserWorld on Twitter

 
China • diplomacy • Taiwan • Taipei • Ma Ying-jeou

from our news partners