Mainland seeks joint efforts with Taiwan on detainees

A mainland's Taiwan affairs official on Tuesday called for joint efforts to reach a consensus on the visitation rights for detainees across the Taiwan Strait. Zhang Zhijun, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office (SCTAO), made the remarks during his meeting with Wang Yu-chi, Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. "The problem now is how to map out mutual respect regulations that can safeguard the rights of detainees and their relatives across the Strait," Zhang said. The issue is one of the concerns in the establishment of working bodies between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Straits Exchange Foundation, authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Strait affairs. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman with the SCTAO, told reporters after the meeting that follow-up negotiations on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a comprehensive cross-Strait economic pact signed in 2010 to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between the two sides, are anticipated this year. Ma added that the mainland is willing to make utmost efforts to meet the needs of Taiwan compatriots.