People should pay heed to China’s disregard of Taiwan’s sovereignty and government over a wide range of issues, former Democratic Progressive Party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Tsai’s comments were directed at a unilateral announcement on Thursday by organizers of the Chinese Music Chart Awards (中國歌曲排行榜) that this year’s event would be held in Taipei, despite not having received official approval from the Taiwanese government.
“Beijing has not only failed to show respect, but also intentionally disregarded Taiwan’s sovereignty and government. It seems to me that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has failed to resist China’s forceful drive to suppress Taiwan since he took office,” Tsai said on the sidelines of an event in Banciao District (板橋), New Taipei City (新北市).
“Taiwan’s sovereignty and authority will be eroded if the government does not act as the ultimate defender of the nation and meet people’s expectations. If that’s the case, society should stay vigilant and safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and political system by itself,” she said.
Any Chinese event that belittles Taiwan’s sovereignty should not be held in Taiwan, Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said.
Lin urged the joint-review committee, which consists of 26 government agencies, to reject the application for the event during tomorrow’s scheduled review meeting and said she would propose that any agency that approves the application has its budget slashed.
The National Immigration Agency on Saturday confirmed that it had received application documents from the Chinese Music Chart Awards organizers and that 26 agencies, led by the Ministry of Culture, are scheduled to jointly review the matter tomorrow.
While the event has yet to be approved by Taiwanese authorities, a Chinese tour agency has been advertising tour packages, including attendance of the awards ceremony in Taipei, since early last month.
Caissa Travel Agency’s Web site is offering three tour packages — five, six and eight-day trips — for the event. The tour parties are scheduled to leave Beijing on Dec. 23 and Dec. 27 respectively, with the tours costing from 4,299 yuan (US$690) to 7,399 yuan.
Additional reporting by Chen Hui-ping
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS