New facilities ideal venue for Taiwan-China talks: official

Taipei, May 2 (CNA)
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan visited the new building of the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation on Wednesday and said the brand-new facilities there will serve as the ideal venue for future talks between Taiwan and China.

Lai said the 300-seat conference room in the new building will provide "the necessary space for exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."

She was responding to reporters' questions on whether she was checking out the building as a possible venue for the upcoming meeting between Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, and Chen Yunlin, president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits.

Lai also checked the convenience of a negotiation table in the conference room, standing on one side of the table and shaking hands with Chiang on the other side.

(By Chen Hung-chin and Ann Chen)
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