China confident of security during Taiwan talks

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese government spokesperson said Wednesday that this month's talks between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on the island will be supported and welcomed by Taiwan compatriots.

The mainland believed the Taiwan authorities would take necessary measures to maintain security of the talks and the mainland delegation, said Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference in Beijing.

The spokeswoman was responding to a Taiwan correspondent's question on a reported plan by Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to hold a rally of 100,000 people in Taichung, where the cross-Strait talks will be held on Dec. 22.

The mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) president Chen Yunlin and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman Chiang Pin-kung will meet for the fourth round of talks since they resumed negotiations in June last year after a 10-year suspension.

The talks would continue to benefit the economy and livelihoods of people on both sides as well as cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, Fan said.

The agenda of the talks includes discussion of labor cooperation in the fishing industry, cooperation in inspection and quarantine of agricultural products and in standard measurement authentication, avoidance of double taxation and boosting taxation cooperation.

The ARATS delegation would also tour Taichung City, the surrounding area and the Sun Moon Lake, and leave the island on Dec. 25.

The spokeswoman also said Chen Yunlin had expressed a wish to meet Taiwan people who survived Typhoon Morakot in August, which the two organizations were still negotiating.