Taiwan enjoys full access to ICAO information: mainland
Xinhua, September 28, 2016 Adjust font size:
A mainland spokesperson on Wednesday said Taiwan enjoys full access to information offered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), when asked to comment on Taiwan's exclusion from the 39th ICAO assembly.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, was asked by a correspondent to comment on Taiwan's claim linking participation in the ICAO assembly with its aviation safety.
Taiwan's aviation safety as well as its air traffic with other regions have nothing to do with whether or not the island participates in the ICAO assembly, Ma said.
"The mainland has always attached great importance to the needs of Taiwan compatriots in the aviation sector and will continue to offer related information to the Taiwan side," Ma said.
Ma said Taiwan should reflect on why it was able to attend the 2013 ICAO Assembly and cannot attend this year's meeting, rather than mislead the public by laying unwarranted blame on the mainland.
In a previous press release last week, Ma said that Taiwan cannot participate in the ICAO assembly because the island's current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which lays out the one-China principle.
Taiwan's civil aviation authorities were invited to send staff as non-voting delegates to the ICAO Assembly's 38th session in 2013. Ma last week said that was a special arrangement, made through consultation and against the backdrop of amicable development of cross-Strait relations on the understanding that both sides adhere to the 1992 Consensus. Endit