Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) led a delegation of 16 KMT officials to China yesterday, vowing to help develop cross-strait peace while safeguarding the interests of Taiwanese.
“We can feel the heavy responsibility on our shoulders. We will do our best to play our roles [on cross-strait issues],” Wu said when approached for comment at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning.
“We hope that we will be able to facilitate the development of peace across the Taiwan Strait, ensure Taiwan’s safety, serve the people’s interests, promote the nation’s policy on China and realize President Ma [Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)] campaign platform,” he said.
Wu said Beijing’s willingness to arrange the meeting between KMT and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials amid Beijing’s current focus on earthquake relief in Sichuan Province highlighted the importance of cross-strait relations for both sides.
The meeting also symbolizes a new opportunity to improve relations between Taipei and Beijing, he said.
Wu flew to Nanjing via Hong Kong at the start of his six-day visit yesterday.
He is also scheduled to visit Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangsu.
He will pay homage to former KMT chairman Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) at Sun’s tomb in Nanjing today, where he said he would report the KMT’s victory in the March presidential election.
He will then fly to Beijing at 2pm, where he will dine with Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), head of the People’s Political Consultative Conference, at the Beijing Hotel.
He will visit the national stadium of the summer Beijing Olympic Games tomorrow, followed by a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
The meeting will mark the first formal contact between the leaders of the ruling parties on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the Chinese civil war.
Wu dismissed yesterday media speculation that he arranged the trip to compete with former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) over the predominant role in dealing with cross-strait affairs within the KMT.
“This speculation is a joke,” Wu said. “I also participated in Mr Lien’s several trips to China ... we should cherish this platform [the KMT-CCP communication platform].”
“This is an asset in the development of cross-strait peace,” he said.
In related news, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday officially invited its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), to start negotiations on two issues after the Cabinet formally authorized the SEF to represent the government in talks about launching weekend direct charter flights and allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan by July.
The SEF and ARATS are the only two civic organizations authorized by Taipei and Beijing to represent the respective governments in talks on cross-strait issues.
MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) personally presented the authorization letter, signed by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), to the newly elected SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), minutes after he was elected by the SEF board.
Although the authorization letter stated that the government commissioned the SEF to speak on only two issues — weekend charter flights and allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan — the SEF said the authorization on weekend charter flights included passenger and cargo transport. Passenger transport, however, would be the main focus of the negotiations, it said.
Soon after Chiang’s election, the SEF notified ARATS on the new personnel arrangements and invited ARATS to resume cross-strait negotiations based on the so-called “1992 consensus.” Talk ceased in 1998. Later, the CCP refused to deal with the Democratic Progressive Party government because of what it termed the administration’s “push for Taiwan’s de jure independence.”
In his acceptance speech, Chiang vowed to ameliorate cross-strait relations based on the so-called “1992 consensus” from a Taiwan-centric approach, saying he would begin dialogue with Beijing soon after the election.
“We look forward to normalizing trade relations and increasing cultural exchanges between the two sides. Taiwan and China must shelve their differences and develop a better future in order safeguard the rights of people on both sides of the Strait,” Chiang said.
Chiang promised to quickly organize a team of top negotiators, but said that no talks would be held until ARATS had completed its personnel reshuffle.
Also See: Taiwan urges China airport reciprocity
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS