Reacting to pending China visits by opposition party leaders, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday passed a resolution containing "three oppositions" and "three insistences" for assessing the words and actions of political leaders meeting Chinese officials.
The DPP central executive committee yesterday passed the "Resolution on Political Party Visits to China," proposed by DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). It asks DPP members and officials to interpret cross-strait interaction in line with the resolution.
"The purpose of China's repeated invitations to Taiwan's politicians is simply to alienate Taiwan," DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said.
"It is impossible for the DPP to be silent over Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party [PFP] Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) trips to China. We think their visits to China are unfortunate and might damage Taiwan's hard-won democracy," he said.
"It is necessary to declare the DPP's attitude towards these recent developments with a statement in black-and-white," Lee said. "We expect this resolution will become a basic guideline for the DPP in dealing with cross-strait affairs and assessing the behavior of politicians in China."
The first of the "three oppositions" opposes acceptance of the so-called "1992 Consensus" based on the "one China" principle as a condition for visiting China. The second opposes political parties negotiating with Chinese authorities without government authorization on issues involving sovereignty or government power. The third opposes any act by China that attempts to degrade or "localize" Taiwan.
The first of the "three insistences" states that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent and sovereign country belonging to the 23 million Taiwanese people and that any change to this requires the consent of the Taiwanese people. The second states that cross-strait disputes must be solved by peaceful means and that any Chinese government attempt to use force should be strongly condemned. The third states that the nation's participation in international society should not be suppressed and that the people of Taiwan sternly oppose China's "Anti-Secession" Law.
Lee said that DPP members who are serving as county commissioners and city mayors should not go to China at this time, even if they were invited by Chinese officials.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS