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4.
We no
d) In the other direction, we have recently had a steady
flow of senior Taiwanese visitors. We have arranged for
Taiwan officials to meet their British counterparts
informally so as to pursue trade-related business.
longer insist that all such contacts be on neutral ground.
We have recently agreed that if the Taiwan Vice-Minister for Economic Affairs visits in June (as is proposed), he
can meet Mr Sainsbury, though preferably in the House.
e) Ways are found to negotiate solutions to practical
problems. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and DTI have
had two rounds of trade consultations, with more to follow.
Discussions are going ahead in suitable fora on such
subjects as double taxation, customs cooperation and S and
T cooperation. BA this year began direct flights, via a
subsidiary company, to Taiwan the first EC Airline to do
so, and a private Taiwan airline, EVA, is flying to London.
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The Chinese reaction has so far been reasonably muted to
all this. The Foreign Minister, for example, raised with the
Secretary of State in September 1992 the question of Taiwan air
services and other contacts with Taiwan, but on being assured
that our aims were "exclusively commercial", did not press the point. This low-key response may derive partly from China's own
increased contacts with Taiwan. Although the recent meeting in
Singapore was still technically between unofficial delegations,
it is the Taiwanese who are currently resisting the idea of
direct trade and investment. But we think that the Chinese would
see these talks as an "internal" matter, not any kind of
precedent for other countries. Their low key response probably derives more from the quiet and steady way in which we have built
up our contacts with Taiwan, the care we have taken to brief the
Chinese Embassy here and the fact that other Western countries have been making parallel moves. For example, "old Commonwealth"
SBTAIWAN
CONFIDENTIAL