The Presidential Office vowed to push cross-strait relations on the basis of the so-called “1992 consensus,” following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s (溫家寶) speech in Beijing yesterday.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said cross-strait relations would make peaceful progress if both sides extended goodwill.
As for Wen’s call for a “comprehensive economic cooperation agreement,” Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said the government knows that China’s financial system has structural problems and it hoped quasi-official agencies could help resolve the problems.
The government also hoped to see both sides engage in trade exchanges and interactions based on the existing foundation, he said, adding that under such a framework, both sides could march more confidently down the road of peace and mutual existence.
Responding to Wen’s comment about Taiwan’s international space, Liu said mutual trust was vital before tackling “very difficult” issues. Public consensus was equally important, taking into account that Taiwan is a diverse society and a democracy, Liu said.
As for Wen’s comment that Beijing was willing to negotiate on Taiwan’s desire to participate in the activities of international organizations on the basis of the “one China” policy, Liu said: “Mainland China should extend more goodwill gestures to our wish to have more international space.”
Liu said both sides must face reality. Any cross-strait issues must be dealt with by an institutionalized cross-strait negotiation mechanism and proceed under the principles of equality and dignity, he said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said Wen’s speech suggested China does not recognize Ma’s “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”
However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓), convener of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, shrugged off Wen’s repetition of Beijing’s “one China” principle: “There is no need for us to react excessively. Today was not the first time [he has made such a remark].”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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
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