TAINAN: Taiwan officials hope coming talks with the mainland will serve greatly to help stabilize the island's troubled economy. A spokesman for the government in Taipei says negotiators hope to sign a memorandum of understanding with the mainland on financial services at the upcoming meetings. Other major trade issues are expected to be on the agenda when top negotiators from both sides meet before mid-2009, a Taiwan official said.

Taiwan also hopes for progress in negotiations aimed at launching regular air service to the mainland. The Taipei government also hopes to smooth the way for mainland investments to enter Taiwan. Cooperative efforts to fight crime also are expected to be on the agenda, Chiang Pin-kun, Taiwan's top mainland negotiator and chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, told reporters yesterday.

"We don't necessarily need to sign agreements on other issues. There are other ways to achieve these things," he said on the sidelines of a business event in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan.

Chiang plans to meet his mainland counterpart, Chen Yunlin, before June. It will be their third official meeting, a sign of rapidly improving cross-Straits ties since Ma Ying-jeou took office as Taiwan's leader in May.

The dates and location for the next round of talks have not been set, Chiang said.

Chiang and Chen's two previous meetings generated a spate of bilateral deals. The two leaders negotiated an increase in direct charter flights across the Taiwan Straits. New shipping routes and postal links have been established.

Taiwan and the mainland have forged closer trading links.

The mainland is Taiwan's biggest trading partner with two-way annual trade totalling more than $130 billion. Taiwan businesses invested at least $76 billion into the huge mainland market between 1991 and 2008.

Chiang made no mention yesterday of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, a wide-reaching trade deal with the mainland, which Taiwan officials hope will boost the island's competitive position as the global recession continues.

Reuters

(HK Edition 02/04/2009 page1)