G-G Issues Statement on the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Meetings (11 -14 June 2008)

Statement on the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Meetings (11 -14 June 2008)
-- Office of the Governor-General Press Release

The Dominion of British West Florida commends the recent efforts of the two Chinas to progress form mutual non-recognition to mutual non-denial.

Dialogue through semi-official organisations (the SEF and the ARATS) reopened on June 12, 2008 on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, with the first meeting held in Beijing. Neither the PRC nor the ROC recognizes the other side as a legitimate entity, so the dialogue was in the name of contacts between the SEF and the ARATS instead of the two governments, though most participants were actually officials in PRC or ROC governments. Chen Yunlin, President of the ARATS, and Chiang Pin-kung, President of the SEF, signed files on June 13, agreeing that direct flights between the two sides would begin on 4 July and that Taiwan would allow entrance of up to 3000 visitors from the mainland every day.

The Dominion of British West Florida continues to take notice of, but not support, the position of the People's Republic of China with regard to the status of Taiwan.

The future of Taiwan should be decided peacefully by the peoples of both sides of the Strait, and progress like that made in recent days strengthens our hope that such a resolution can be reached in the near future.