The Cabinet is temporarily suspending high-ranking exchanges with France to protest French President Jacques Chirac's comments on Taiwan's planned referendum, Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced yesterday.
"We feel extremely sorry about Chirac's bowing to China and caving in to commercial interests. His talk not only is detrimental to our democratic development but also violates the true spirit of freedom and democracy," Yu said.
Under the premise of reciprocity, Yu said, the government will make adjustments to the relationship between the two countries in accordance with the French government's sincerity in resolving the matter.
Yu made the remarks yesterday morning after attending the monthly meeting of the Cabinet's Veterans Affairs Commission.
According to Yu, the Cabinet learned details of Chirac's talks on Saturday, two days before Chirac publicly denounced the referendum proposed by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
"We decided to adopt a counterattack measure and asked two Cabinet officials to cancel their scheduled trips to France," Yu said.
The two officials are National Science Council Chairman Wei Che-ho (
Wei, who is on a trip to Europe, will remove France from his itinerary and stay only in Germany to promote scientific collaboration between the two countries. Tchen has cancelled a trip to France scheduled from Wednesday to Feb 8.
While the suspension of exchanges applies to high-ranking officials only, cultural and economic exchanges are unaffected, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
Lin said that Taiwan, as an independent sovereign state, is obliged to unequivocally express its stance.
"We should express our stance in a firm and appropriate manner but never overreact," he said. "As Chirac's comments are merely political language made in response to the request of visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Lin, however, warned the French government that indulging China was quixotic.
"It might acquire some short-term gain from China but end up being manipulated by it," Lin said. "What EU nations and other countries should do while dealing with China is to collaborate with each other under a strong leadership instead of fighting the battle alone."
Also see story:
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS