Investment protection pact with China may be signed soon: SEF head
Taipei, July 6 (CNA) The next round of high-level cross-Taiwan Strait talks can be expected in a month, when a long-stalled investment protection pact will be signed, Taiwan’s top negotiator said Friday.
“The details (of the pact) have been basically settled,” said Chiang Pin-kung, chair of the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), after an internal meeting at the SEF.
Once an agreement on the wording of the pact is reached, the two sides can begin organising a new round of talks between Chiang and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
Chiang said preparations for the eighth round of Chiang-Chen talks will take about one month, and he suggested that the Grand Hotel in Taipei will likely be the venue.
Chiang said the two sides plan to sign both the investment protection pact and a customs cooperation agreement at the talks.
The two sides had hoped to sign an investment protection agreement as early as late 2010, but talks on the pact broke down over such issues as third-party arbitration and quick notification of family members when a Taiwanese businessperson in China is arrested.
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Category: China
