SCLEROTIC:Beijing must accept that changes of power are normal in democracies, and Taipei does not accept preconditions to communications, Katharine Chang said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 08, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) annual forum will not replace government-level communications across the Taiwan Strait, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) said yesterday, adding that it is “out of the question.”

Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions over speculation that attendance by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) at KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) could signal that the annual KMT-CCP get-together would replace official cross-strait communication mechanisms.

“The KMT-CCP forum is an interaction between two political parties. Cross-strait exchanges should be more comprehensive, especially when it comes to matters pertaining to public authority as they can only be dealt with by the government or an authorized government agent,” Chang said on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.

It is impossible for the KMT-CCP forum to take the place of government-level cross-strait communication mechanisms, she added.     [FULL  STORY]