Conservative leader Angela Merkel pushed her demand to serve as Germany's next chancellor while Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder clung to his competing claim as they readied yesterday for tough negotiations aimed at ending the country's political crisis.
The two were to meet yesterday for a round of summit talks along with Franz Muentefering, the chairman of Schroeder's Social Democrats, and Merkel's fellow conservative leader Edmund Stoiber.
Both sides said that the haggling could last through Sunday before Germans know who their next leaders is. If Schroeder and Merkel can decide which of them will back off, both parties are to hold leadership meetings on Monday that could endorse the beginning of formal talks on a "grand coalition" of Germany's two biggest political parties.
"We believe that we will have results on Sunday evening that are firm," Muentefering told reporters.
Muentefering said his party was keeping its aim of governing "with Gerhard Schroeder at the helm" -- although he appeared to suggest that was an aspiration rather than a demand. Merkel stuck firmly to her own demand that the Social Democrats recognize her right, as the leader of the largest group in parliament, to become Germany's first female chancellor.
"We have always said that, to start [formal] coalition negotiations, a further condition must be fulfilled -- a basis of trust must be created," Merkel told reporters. "This basis of trust can only be created if certain rules are respected."
She also insisted that her conservative bloc should get the job of parliament president, which traditionally goes to the strongest parliamentary group. The post has featured in speculation over how Schroeder's party could be persuaded to back down.
Merkel refused to say what inducements she might offer the Social Democrats.
Muentefering was similarly tightlipped about the chances of his party's lawmakers accepting a Chancellor Merkel, noting that a coalition would have to be endorsed by a party convention.
The two sides have been forced toward a so-called "grand coalition" because voters ousted Schroeder's seven-year government of Social Democrats and Greens on Sept. 18 but also denied the conservatives a majority for a center-right coalition.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for