Representatives of Taiwan and China at the Cross-Strait CEO Summit (CSCS) agreed that the two sides should cooperate on developing electric and autonomous vehicles, according to a statement released by Taiwan’s CSCS on Friday.
Former Premier Liu Chao-hsuan (???), who chaired Taiwan’s CSCS group, led a delegation of Taiwanese businesspeople to meet with China’s CSCS committee chairman Guo Jinlong (???) on Wednesday to discuss how the two sides can boost business cooperation.
Beyond electronic vehicles and autonomous cars, Liu told Guo that Taiwan and China could also focus on “industrial chain collaboration,” the statement said.
On the cultural front, Liu, who also chairs the Foundation of Chinese Culture for Sustainable Development, described Beijing as a capital of culture and hoped the two sides could engage in cultural cooperation in the near future.
In response, Guo said China’s CSCS group will continue to help Taiwanese businesspeople in China solve their problems and encourage them to take advantage of the benefits China has to offer, including Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Belt and Road Initiative opportunities.
Traveling with Liu in China were former economic affairs ministers Steve Chen (???), Yiin Chii-ming (???) and Duh Tyzz-jun (???) as well as representatives of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the CTCI Group and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
They arrived in Beijing on Nov. 29 and were quarantined until Wednesday to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
Aside from Guo, Liu and the group also met with Yin Li (??), the Communist Party secretary of Beijing, and Liu Jieyi (???), director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
Some groups in Taiwan were opposed to the gathering.
At a press conference at the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday before the meeting, Lai Chung-chiang (???), convener of the Economic Democracy Union, called on the ITRI, the CTCI and TAITRA to drop out of the summit, arguing that it could support China’s United Front strategy.
China’s semiconductor industry is now facing difficulties because the United States has limited China’s access to ICs, and Lai said he worried that the CSCS could do harm to the economic cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel