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China and Taiwan inked an agreement in Beijing on June 13 that will increase tourism and formalize regular weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Strait. The deal, signed for Taiwan by Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and for China by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin, is one of several cooperative initiatives proposed by Taiwan’s new president, Ma Ying-jeou. These also involve additional travel and tourism openings and greater economic interaction. Adding to the atmosphere of goodwill, in his inaugural address Ma also pledged Taiwan would stop trying to buy allies and urged Beijing to end its efforts to strip Taipei of the few remaining countries that recognize Taiwan.
Ma’s efforts to smooth over ties with Beijing have received criticism from the now-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan. He also has received subtle, but no less vocal, criticism from elements in the United States that argue he is moving Taiwan dangerously close to Beijing, turning his back on the United States. These critics also argue that continued close ties between Taipei and Beijing could ultimately increase Chinese power and threaten U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region.
Highlighting these incipient tensions, Taiwanese and U.S. media have focused on the alleged delay of U.S. military sales to Taiwan. According to the reports, the U.S. State Department is holding up the process by not passing on the requests to Congress for budgetary approval. The timing of the accusations coincides with comments by the outgoing Taiwanese semiofficial representative to the United States, Joseph Wu, who headed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington for the past year. Wu — the first native Taiwanese to hold the post — has urged Washington to sell F-16s to Taiwan, a decision Washington has left hanging for several years.
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