President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged China to scrap the growing number of missiles aimed at Taiwan, adding that he would not exclude the possibility of meeting Chinese leaders one day.
Taiwan planned to buy more weapons from the US to protect itself, although it did not want an arms race with China as trade ties expand and with more deals expected to be signed in the coming year or so, Ma said.
“[There are] more than 1,000 [missiles] and they haven’t changed that. The number continues to go up. That is certainly a great concern for the people here,” Ma said during an interview at the Presidential Office.
“If we are to negotiate a peace agreement with the mainland, certainly we expect them to do something about those missiles, either to remove them or dismantle them,” said Ma, who has attempted to ease tensions with China since taking office in May last year.
The 59-year-old Ma, who became chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the weekend, said he would not rule out meeting Chinese leaders, such as his counterpart Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
“I won’t exclude that possibility, but there’s no timetable for that yet,” Ma said, when asked if he would meet Hu. “At the moment, we have our hands full with economic issues.”
Despite political differences, commercial ties have flourished. China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner with two-way trade of more than US$130 billion, while Taiwanese businesses have poured more than US$100 billion into China.
Ma said the nation needed to diversify its exports to stay competitive and forecast 4 percent economic growth next year. He also said Taiwan expected to sign a deal similar to a free-trade agreement with China next year that would cut tariffs.
The president hopes more of the exports that go to China would be sold to the Chinese domestic market, instead of being re-exported to advanced economies, such as the US and Europe, that have been harder hit by the steep global downturn.
“It’s not possible for us to change the economy, [which is] based on exports, but we could diversify the export market, not focusing entirely on the United States or Europe,” Ma said. “Actually, the largest export destination is mainland China, but many of the goods with mainland China are reprocessed to be re-exported to the US and Europe, so we will modify that policy so that mainland China is no longer treated only as a factory, but rather as a market.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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