Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday gave conditional backing to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus proposal to declare Chinese official Jiang Ping (江平) persona non grata because of his actions at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the weekened.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, Jiang, Chinese delegation chief and deputy director-general of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV’s film bureau, demanded the Taiwanese delegation change its name from “Taiwan” to “China, Taiwan” or “Chinese Taipei.” He threatened to block Taiwanese films in the Chinese market after his request was rejected.
“If [Jiang] continues to maintain this attitude, it would mean that he is extremely unfriendly to Taiwan. In that case, it goes without saying the legislature could declare him persona non grata,” Wu said while fielding questions from KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) on the legislative floor.
Saying he thought Jiang and the Chinese government were playing “good cop, bad cop,” Lai asked Wu if he agreed with Executive Yuan spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who termed the incident an “isolated case,” but separated Jiang from Chinese officialdom.
Wu said he disagreed on Lai’s “white cop, bad cop game” characterization, but he said the incident could not be considered an isolated one without further observation, including how China’s Taiwan Affairs Office handles the issue.
However, the premier rejected Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Gao Jyh-peng’s (高志鵬) request that the government demand an apology from China.
Chiang’s judgement that the Chinese authorities were not involved in the contretempts was “correct,” Wu said.
“China’s population is more than 1.3 billion and it has a huge bureaucracy. So far, only Mr Jiang was so rude [to Taiwan],” Wu said, adding that the Presidential Office had urged China to take remedial measures and that he himself had criticized Jiang over his behavior.
“Wasn’t this enough?” Wu asked, adding it would be inappropriate for him to demand Jiang apologize to Taiwan.
“If I, as premier, demand [Jiang] apologize and he refused, wouldn’t it be the case that it was beneath my dignity?” Wu said.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) said yesterday that the ministry “would make proper, reasonable arrangements” concerning Taiwan’s participation in international events on the condition that such participation would not create the impression of “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.”
When asked to comment last night on Ma’s statement, Wu said he needed to read a full transcript first.
“I have been thinking that both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait have been through a hard time turning from an attitude of confrontation to developing mutual prosperity … Why let one or two persons [spoil the relationship?]” Wu said. “We need to get back on course to continue accumulating goodwill and refrain from damaging the mutual trust built up so far.”
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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