A mentor of President Chen Shui-bian (
Professor Lee Hung-hsi (
Lee, a law professor at National Taiwan University who had taught Chen when he was a student there and has continued to provide him with advice throughout his political career, is now president of the Ketagalan Institute, a school founded by Chen last year with the aim of nurturing future leaders.
Lee recalled that in June 1960, he was sent to the outpost island to serve as a military judge. Then-US president Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Taiwan on June 18 that year, and Eisenhower and then-Taiwan president Chiang Kai-shek (
He said that China fired a total of 173,000 shells at Kinmen on June 17 and June 19 that year, adding that "I had mixed feelings revisiting the island after more than four decades."
Lee also said that he agreed with Kinmen Magistrate Lee Chu-feng's (
Kinmen could play the role of a "buffer zone and a revolving door" across the Taiwan Strait, he pointed out, adding that before direct trade and transportation links between Taiwan and China are established, the government could focus on improving the present "small three links" between the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese province of Fujian so as to avoid direct confrontations between the two sides.
He expressed the hope that both sides would seek the opportunity for cooperation through the exchanges and integration, adding that both sides now have an understanding of each other and have made compromises in their respective progress after years of such exchanges and integration.
"If the gap in national income, democratic development and human rights protection between the two sides gradually narrows, the cross-strait confrontation will sort itself out in due time," he said.
Lee, who arrived in Kinmen early yesterday to the warm welcome of Kinmen Magistrate Lee, also saluted in a ceremony the famous academic Chu Hsi (朱熹) from the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1278) who came to Kinmen to propagate his teachings. He also visited the island's military facilities and scenic spots.
Lee urged the Ketagalan faculty members to take notice of the impact of the "small three links" while they toured the island.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would