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
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
NEW YEAR’S ADDRESS: ‘No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path,’ William Lai said, urging progress ‘without looking back’ President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged parties across the political divide to democratically resolve conflicts that have plagued domestic politics within Taiwan’s constitutional system. In his first New Year’s Day address since becoming president on May 20 last year, Lai touched on several issues, including economic and security challenges, but a key emphasis was on the partisan wrangling that has characterized his first seven months in office. Taiwan has transformed from authoritarianism into today’s democracy and that democracy is the future, Lai said. “No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path for Taiwan,” he said. “The only choice
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS