Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said yesterday that Beijing was ready to hold talks with Taiwan on political and military issues to end hostilities between the two sides.
In his opening address to the National People’s Congress (NPC), Wen hailed a significant improvement in ties and a major reduction in tensions over the past year between China and Taiwan.
“Positive changes occurred in the situation in Taiwan, and major breakthroughs were made in cross-strait relations,” Wen said in his annual “state of the nation” address.
PHOTO: AP
“In the coming year, we will continue to adhere to the principle of developing cross-strait relations and promoting peaceful reunification of the motherland,” Wen told the 3,000 NPC delegates.
“We are ... ready to hold talks on cross-strait political and military issues and create conditions for ending the state of hostility and concluding a peace agreement” between the two sides, he said.
Wen’s remarks were a near word-for-word reiteration of offers made by President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in a Dec. 31 address.
Wen gave no additional details on the content of a peace agreement or what the talks on political and military issues would include. However, the tone of his remarks was far more conciliatory than the typically hawkish references to Taiwan contained in previous addresses to the congress.
Wen pointed to increased contacts between the two, particularly in the economic and financial fields, and vowed to provide financial and investment support for Taiwanese businesses operating in China.
“We will accelerate normalization of cross-strait economic relations and facilitate the signing of a comprehensive agreement on economic cooperation,” Wen said.
He also referred to Taiwan’s long ambition to participate in international organizations such as the UN, although he insisted the baseline criteria remained.
“We are ready to make fair and reasonable arrangements through consultation on the issue of Taiwan’s participation in the activities of international organizations,” Wen said.
But he said such participation would have to come under the “one China principle.”
Turning to the economy, Wen said China was facing unprecedented challenges from the global crisis but he was confident the country would still achieve economic growth of about 8 percent this year.
He acknowledged the Chinese economy, the third-biggest in the world, was hurting and the climate was not expected to get better soon in the face of a global recession that has weakened demand for Chinese goods.
Wen also promised the government would be more open and listen to public opinion.
“We need to make government affairs more open and transparent. We will ensure the people’s right to ... participate in, to express views on and to oversee government affairs,” he said.
However, he also cautioned that the government would not tolerate anything that affected stability.
In addition, the military needed to be modernized “across the board,” he said. The military would transform its training focus toward warfare tactics using more information technology applications, he said.
“We need to make our army more revolutionary, modern and standardized, focusing on enabling it to fully carry out its historic missions,” he said.
At the end of its nine-day session, the NPC will be asked to approve a 15.3 percent increase in defense spending to 472.9 billion yuan (US$69 billion) this year, according to a budget report.
On Wednesday, a parliament spokesman said the defense budget was set to rise to 480.7 billion yuan, up 62.5 billion yuan or 14.9 percent from last year.
No explanation was given for the discrepancy.
Also See: China says 8% growth possible
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers