Beijing concerned over stalled trade deal in Taipei

The mainland yesterday expressed concern over a long-stalled trade service pact signed with Taiwan, but avoided saying whether it was open to renegotiating the deal.

The island’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, is trying to contain a student-led protest over the agreement, and made a new pledge that any talks with the movement’s leaders would be open to the media.

The demonstration escalated late Sunday when police dressed in riot gear used water cannons to remove students who had broken into the offices of the island’s cabinet, the Executive Yuan Council. More than 110 people were injured. It is just blocks away from the legislature’s chamber, which about 200 students took seized on March 18.

The island’s top law-enforcement official, Wang Cho-chiun, sought to appease opposition lawmakers calling for his sacking by apologising to students for how they were treated.

In Beijing, Ma Xiaoguang, the spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news briefing the pact was the result of economic liberalisation and globalisation.

“People on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are reluctant to see the progress of cross-strait economic co-operation disturbed,” he said. “No one would like to see cross-strait relations return to tension and confrontation” as before in 2008, he said. “From the mainland’s perspective, the trade service pact is well-drafted and mutually beneficial.”

The deal would open up service industries such as banking and hospitals across the Taiwan Strait.