Taiwan yesterday cautiously welcomed China's softened rhetoric in defining direct links between the two sides as a "cross-strait" rather than "domestic" issue.
During an interview with Taiwanese journalists in Beijing Wednesday, Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (
"Direct links is an economic issue, not a political one," Qian said. "[China] will treat direct transport as being cross-strait in nature and set aside the `one China' principle when approaching it."
National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said Qian's latest remarks, if accurately quoted, are worthy of encouragement.
"By labeling the issue as cross-strait rather than domestic, China has adjusted its attitude toward direct links," Chiou told a legislative committee yesterday. "That adjustment is worth encouraging. Still, the two sides should sit down and talk over further details."
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Shih-meng (
He said the DPP government does not reject full-scale exchanges with China provided they are conducted under the principle of dignity and parity and do not pose a threat to the nation's security.
Over the years, China had consistently defined proposed direct transportation across the Strait as a "special domestic" issue. Last July, Qian said Beijing would downplay the "one China" condition in a bid to promote direct links, provided they are considered domestic.
In yet another concession, Qian said Wednesday the matter should be kept strictly between the two sides and that no ship or airplane needs to carry a national flag when crossing the Strait.
"Ships entering Chinese ports need only to display their corporate flags," Qian was quoted as saying. "What flags they carry on the high seas is not our concern."
Qian added he believes obstacles to cross-strait air travel could be settled in a similar fashion.
"What matters most is the interests of the air companies involved. It should be up to them to discuss things," he said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
"It is a [sign of] progress for Beijing to stave off the `one China' issue and portray direct transportation links as cross-strait routes," Lin said while briefing the legislature on his ministry's spending plan for next year.
Saying the matter falls outside his jurisdiction, the minister declined to make further comments.
In the past, Beijing had insisted Taipei first recognize the "one China" principle before seeking to resume dialogue.
While willing to tone down his pro-independence language, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) refused to bow to this demand.
Wary of cross-strait entanglement, TSU lawmakers, however, warned the Chen administration not to be taken in by the latest Chinese propaganda.
"The government must not back down in defining cross-strait links as an international issue," TSU legislative whip Lin Chih-lung (
Huang Chung-yung (
He added that Hong Kong's economy has suffered since the former British colony was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
A registered sex offender from the US who went missing after entering Taiwan has been found and would be deported in light of the risk he poses to the public, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday. The agency launched a search for Levi Forrest Wallace, 43, after it was informed by the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) that he had entered Taiwan on Oct. 2 on a tourist visa. He was not on the US government’s wanted list. Wallace was sentenced to 90 days in jail with a two-year probation in 2001 after he was convicted of sexual delinquency of
RSS