With Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah setting off for Taipei today, officials from Hong Kong and Taiwan are set to hold their first formal talks since the establishment of a new exchange platform between the two places. Yet both sides' priorities appear to be different. While Taiwan wants to elevate its political status at the negotiation table, Hong Kong remains acutely aware of the constraints of 'one country, two systems'. Tsang will be the highest-ranking serving Hong Kong official to visit Taiwan since Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. He will attend a meeting as honorary chairman of the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Co-operation and Promotion Council (ECCPC), set up in April to deal with its Taiwan counterpart, the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council (ECCC), which was inaugurated in May. The two councils, with senior officials from their respective governments participating, were established to provide a quasi-official communication channel between Taiwan and Hong Kong after Taiwan-mainland relationships warmed significantly over the last two years. The ECCC is chaired by Taiwan's former finance minister, Lin Chen-kuo. However, the first meeting between the two councils in Taipei on Monday will not be an easy task. A local person familiar with preparations said there had been intense negotiations over the agenda since a Hong Kong government team arrived in Taipei last week. James Chu Shi, director of the department of Hong Kong and Macau affairs under Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, told Taiwan news media that Taiwan wants Hong Kong to waive all visa requirements for Taiwanese travelling through the city, and wants to rename the Chung Hwa Travel Service - Taiwan's representative in the city. Taiwan also wants Taiwan-Hong Kong civil aviation agreements signed by authorised agencies in a similar way as its pacts with the mainland were signed by Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, according to the person familiar with the negotiations. The present agreement is between Cathay Pacific Airways and the Taipei Airlines Association because Hong Kong has avoided official contacts with Taipei. 'But these are just one-sided requests from Taiwan,' the person said. 'For the Hong Kong side, these are not the most urgent matters. We have to get to know each other first at the first meeting.' A spokesman for the financial secretary said yesterday the meeting's agenda was not yet available. 'It is just the first meeting and we have yet to see what items to discuss.' Hong Kong-based political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-shiu said the three issues raised by Taiwan were all sensitive for the SAR government. 'On the face of it, Hong Kong can talk about these matters. But the reality is that it must seek Beijing's opinion.'
