Mainland and Taiwan sign medical pact

The mainland and Taiwan signed a medical co-operation agreement yesterday in yet another sign of warming relations.

The two sides also agreed in their sixth round of talks to increase the daily quota for mainland tourists from 3,000 to 4,000 from January 1, while adding 122 flights on each side to transport their people back home for the Lunar New Year, which begins on February 3.

Top negotiators from Taipei and Beijing also found the need to hold regular meetings to review the 14 agreements signed by the two sides since they mended fences in 2008 and held their groundbreaking talks in June that year. The signing of the economic and tourism co-operation agreements was made possible by President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of engagement with the mainland.

The latest pact - the 15th so far - calls for co-operation in medical research, quarantines, an exchange of epidemic information, the safe management of medical products, the development of new drugs, including those involving herbal medicine, and the addressing of emergency medical needs.

'This agreement is highly important in the face of rapid exchanges by people of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,' said Chiang Pin-kung, Taiwan's top negotiator, at the end of yesterday's talks. Chiang heads the Straits Exchange Foundation, which represents the government in dealings with the mainland in the absence of formal ties.

Chiang said due to differences in certain terms, the two sides were unable to sign an investment protection agreement, which had been scheduled. 'Our two sides have agreed to continue to discuss this agreement and make the signing of it the major agenda in the seventh round of talks next year,' Chiang said.