Mainland quashes reports of slowing cross-Strait service trade talks

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Experts from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan are striving to conclude negotiations on a cross-Strait service trade agreement by the year end, a mainland spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The negotiations are coming to the finishing stage and the two sides are engaging in intensified communication," said Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.

Yang rubbished recent media report from Taiwan which said the negotiations were showing signs of slowing down.

The two sides are trying to settle on the service trade agreement as soon as possible before the end of 2012 so as to submit the document to the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to sign at a proper time, he said.

The ARATS and SEF are two organizations respectively authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Strait affairs.

Trade in services has been one of the topics on the agenda of ensuing negotiations between the mainland and Taiwan following the signing of the landmark cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010.