The controversial issue of a comprehensive Taipei-Beijing trade pact may not be on the agenda this year, Taiwan's top China affairs official was quoted as saying Sunday.
Lai Shin-yuan repeated the Taiwanese government's pledge of normalising economic and trade ties with China during her first trip to the United States as the chairwoman of the island's cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council.
But the pact "may not be listed on the agenda of the fourth round of talks" due late this year, as reaching a consensus in Taiwan may take time, she was quoted as saying in a dispatch from New York by Taiwan's official Central News Agency.
"It's not likely until next year," she said.
The two sides concluded the third round of talks in April, agreeing to expand air links and promote mainland Chinese investment on the island in the latest step forward in rapidly improving ties.
The agreements were built on historic talks held in Beijing in June last year — the first dialogue between the two sides in a decade. Another meeting followed in Taiwan in November.
The potential trade pact, referred to as an "Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" and similar in scope to a free trade agreement — would boost the flow of goods and personnel, helping the island tackle recession.
Taiwan's Economic Minister Yiin Chii-ming has defended the idea, claiming it could boost the island's economy by 1.4 percentage points.
But the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has strongly opposed the pact, which it claims would demote Taipei to the status of a local government in any rapprochement talks.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war, but relations have warmed since May, when Ma succeeded Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence rhetoric regularly enraged China during his eight years in office.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
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