Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's quest for international space and President Ma Ying-jeou's call for "mutual non-denial" will not be on the agenda of any cross-Taiwan Strait negotiations, a senior official responsible for China policy said Thursday.
Liu Teh-shun, vice chairman of the cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) , made the remarks after Legislator Kuan Bi-ling urged the government to negotiate with China on these matters in the next round of high-level talks, to be held before the end of the year.
Kuan, a member of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) , said Wednesday that the negotiation was necessary because of China 's continued interference in Taiwan's participation in international organizations.
At a weekly press conference, Liu said that the Taiwan side has stated the country's position in past meetings between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) President Chen Yunlin, and will continue to do so.
"As both sides have now deepened relations and institutionalized bilateral exchanges, we hope China understands that if we cooperate in our international participation, both sides will be able to enjoy stronger global influence," he added.
With respect to President Ma's call for "mutual non-denial" between Taiwan and China, Liu said that the two sides have established a "fundamentally solid foundation" on the appeal and have "almost reached" a phase of mutual non-denial, an issue which Liu described as non-negotiable and something which could be carried out in practice.
"Mutual non-denial" is a principle advocated by Ma in a bid to win more international room for Taiwan in the face of Beijing's success in blocking Taiwan from most international organizations.
The president repeated the call on Sunday in a speech marking the National Day.
"Although at this stage the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot accord de jure recognition to each other, we should nevertheless adopt a pragmatic policy of de facto 'mutual non-denial,'" he said. (By Chris Wang) enditem/jc