President Ma Ying-jeou said on Monday there’s no political agenda behind his goal of setting up cross-strait representatives offices. The purpose for Taiwan and China to set up offices in each other’s territories is to serve the people.
“We need to set up offices to take care of our people," said Ma. "Tourist visits between Taiwan and China exceed eight million every year. But we don’t have representative offices in China to help Taiwanese businesspersons, visitors, and students there. So there is no political agenda behind it. We simply want to serve the people. [China] has gradually come to understand this. So it needs more time.”
China’s main concern is that cross-strait representative offices could become embassies. But the president said the purpose of these offices will solely be to serve the people across the Taiwan Strait.