Will Beijing answer Taiwanese negotiation body’s call to revive cross-strait talks?

Consultations between semi-official organisations in Taiwan and mainland China have been halted since the DPP’s rise to power on the island

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Talks between Beijing and Taipei’s semi-official negotiation bodies are not likely to resume while Taiwanese leader William Lai is in office, according to analysts. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:08pm, 15 Jan 2025Updated: 1:50am, 16 Jan 2025

Beijing is expected to ignore a Taiwanese body’s call for a resumption of cross-strait consultations with its mainland counterpart amid tensions that have worsened since the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained power on the island, according to observers.

Luo Wen-jia, secretary general of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), tasked with consultation and negotiation with the mainland, said on Friday he hoped there would be a “breakthrough” this year regarding the restoration of talks with mainland China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (Arats).

The two semi-official bodies serve as a supplement to Taipei and Beijing’s official communication channels as the two sides do not officially recognise each other. They both act with strong official endorsement.

Luo urged Beijing to show a “pragmatic attitude” towards the resumption of the mechanism. Under the mechanism, the two bodies hold consultations and negotiations on handling cross-strait civil and business matters.

The call comes nearly nine years after the mechanism was halted following the election of the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen as the island’s leader.

Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University, said there had been no sign of a change in the mainland’s position on the issue.