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Taipei confirms ‘secret’ channels
IN THE SHADOWS: Former NSC chief Su Chi said the Lee and
Chen administrations also had secret communication channels with China, which an
ex-DPP official denied
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, May 17, 2010, Page 1
The Presidential Office yesterday confirmed that Taipei and Beijing have been
using unofficial communication channels, adding that all matters concerning the
exercise of public power must be handled by quasi-official conduits and
supervised by the legislature.
Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said cross-strait exchanges
and communications consisted of official and unofficial channels.
When public matters are discussed, Lo said, it is the remit of the Straits
Exchange Foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations
Across the Taiwan Strait.
“All official dealings with China are supervised by the legislature,” Lo said.
“Everything is open and transparent.”
Lo made the remarks in response to a statement by former National Security
Council (NSC) secretary-general Su Chi (蘇起), who said in an interview with the
Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday that Taipei and Beijing had secret
communication channels.
Through secret channels, Su said, “the two sides can immediately handle
incidents in the Taiwan Strait.”
Such an incident, Su said, could resemble the March 26 sinking of a South Korean
navy vessel after an explosion tore through the frigate in the Yellow Sea.
Although Seoul has not directly blamed North Korea for the sinking, suspicion
has focused on Pyongyang.
He did not elaborate what other type of issues Taipei and Beijing could discuss
through backdoor communications and did not say when they had started.
Su was also quoted as saying that it was an “open secret” that there were
cross-strait brokers during the presidencies of former president Lee Teng-hui
(李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), adding that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
administration has both official channels in charge of administrative affairs
and “secret” ones responsible for “non-administrative” matters.
He declined to elaborate on how the “secret channels” operate, saying only that
the NSC did not play a part.
No NSC officials would comment on Su’s remarks and Su’s mobile phone rang
unanswered yesterday.
At a separate setting yesterday, Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), a Mainland Affairs Council
chairman during the Chen administration, said the DPP administration did not
have any authorized “secret” communication channel or “secret envoys” to China.
Wu, who was also US envoy under the DPP, said Su was making groundless
allegations, which he said were intended to undermine the DPP’s reputation.
Despite the Presidential Office’s reiteration of transparency in its dialogue
with China, the DPP has said Ma often deals with China in a clandestine manner
that hurts Taiwan’s interests, a charge Ma denies.
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