"We have no reason to be pessimistic about the agreement or to be afraid of its impact. The government will try its best to minimize possible damage and maximize the business opportunities the agreement can create."

“Our relationship with mainland China is very subtle. We don’t have a state-to-state relationship and we do not view mainland China as a foreign state.”

“The timing and conditions are ripe for the two sides to set up representative offices . There are no political implications to the plan and the functions of the offices will be basically neutral.”

“Providing compensation will not write off the incidents once and for all.”

“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait will deepen cross-strait exchanges, and it will be difficult to continue such exchanges without representative offices.”

“In 1992, the two sides reached a consensus that each side would verbally express their adherence to the one China principle.”

“The mistakes of history might be gradually forgotten, but historical truth cannot be forgotten, since forgetting history could lead to the recurrence of the same mistakes.”