China is forcing Taiwanese businesspeople to attend an economic summit between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a top Mainland Affairs Council official said yesterday.
Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday that the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of China's State Council had issued an order to the heads of more than 80 Taiwanese business associations in China to attend the forum.
The office warned that failure to comply would result in stiff penalties, the report said.
The office has also ordered Taiwanese businesses nationwide to mobilize in Xiamen and Shanghai to greet former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
The Liberty Times report said that many of the associations are angry that they are being coerced to participate in what they called a meaningless event.
Wu said the Mainland Affairs Council has verified that official letters were sent to the heads of Taiwanese associations requesting they attend the forum.
"We disapprove of China's actions, which greatly bothers Taiwan's businesspeople," Wu said.
When Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) met with Lien last year, Chinese officials only demanded that Taiwanese businesspeople in Shanghai show up to support Lien's visit.
According to the Liberty Times story, Hu then hosted a banquet for more than 100 Taiwanese businesspeople, but made a quick exit along with other top Chinese officials, leaving his "guests" to foot the bill.
Wu also warned the KMT yesterday that the Mainland Affairs Council will not recognize any conclusions reached at forum on issues that involve government authority such as cross-strait charter flights.
"Taiwanese officials' participation cannot be ruled out for any negotiations that require governmental authority. Otherwise they [such negotiations] would be illegal and ineffective," Wu said.
He said China is using a "carrot and stick" strategy, only it was just paying "lip service" instead of carrots. Most of its promises or goodwill attempts are "not true," he said.
"But the `stick part' that China is implementing could not be more genuine," he said. "Its suppression of Taiwan's diplomatic space and its military build-up never stop."
Wu said that Beijing continues to take advantage of the confrontation between Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties and manipulates the conflicts in order to divide this country and besmirch its sovereignty.
"Coupling military threats and sweeteners is China's new strategy for dealing with Taiwan," Wu said.
In response to pan-green criticism about the CCP-KMT forum, KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) called on the government not to thwart an effort to boost the economy and rescue the poor.
"The five issues for the forum -- advancing cross-strait economic and financial exchanges and agricultural cooperation, opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists, and implementation of direct links -- are irrelevant to politics," Pan said.
Given that the government has made pursuing independence its priority and has no ideas to boost the economy, the KMT is obliged to take initiative to improve cross-strait relations, Pan said.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (
"[The pan-green camp] is incapable of improving cross-strait relations, and so they do not want to see other people succeed," he said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip David Huang (
Huang urged Lien to make public this week's discussions with Hu upon this return. He also said the former KMT boss must protest China's military threats toward Taiwan.
TSU Secretary-General Lo Chih-ming (
Lo also criticized the government, saying it was "incredible' that an administration with an "active management and effective opening" policy would allow Lien to go to Beijing again.
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
GLOBAL SUPPORT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the motion highlighted the improper exclusion of Taiwan from international discussion and cooperative mechanisms Taiwan yesterday thanked the British parliament for passing a motion stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, making it the latest body to reject China’s interpretation of the resolution. The House of Commons on Thursday debated the international status of Taiwan and unanimously passed a pro-Taiwan motion stating that the House “notes that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the political status of Taiwan or establish PRC [People’s Republic of China] sovereignty over Taiwan and is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the UN and on Taiwanese participation in UN agencies.” British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Parliamentary
HIGH ALERT: The armed forces are watching for a potential military drill by China in response to the president’s trip, with the air force yesterday conducting an exercise President William Lai (賴清德) is to make stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during his seven-day trip to the South Pacific, his first official visit since taking office in May, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Lai, accompanied by a delegation, is scheduled to depart for the South Pacific on a chartered flight at 4:30pm tomorrow, stopping first in Hawaii for a two-night layover before traveling to the Marshall Islands, an office official said. After wrapping up his visits to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the president is to transit through Guam, spending a night there before flying to Palau,
‘IMPORTANCE OF PEACE’: President Lai was welcomed by AIT Managing Director Ingrid Larson, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and others President William Lai (賴清德) was feted with red carpets, garlands of flowers and “alohas” as he began his two-day stopover in Hawaii on Saturday, part of a Pacific tour. Looking relaxed in a Hawaiian shirt, Lai flitted around the US island state, visiting the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and native Hawaiian culture, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Lai was given the “red carpet treatment” on the tarmac of Honolulu’s international airport, his office said, adding that it was the first time a Taiwanese president had been given such
RSS