President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) affirmation that relations between Taiwan and China are not state-to-state did not belittle the nation’s sovereignty, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday upon returning from Beijing, insisting that the definition of Taiwan-China relations is in the Constitution.
Wu also dismissed concerns about China’s mounting pressure for Taiwan to start political negotiations.
He said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has a deep understanding of Taiwan’s situation and agreed that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must exchange goodwill gestures and develop cross-strait relations step by step.
Photo: Yao Kai-shiou, Taipei Times
“Chairman Ma Ying-jeou is the president of the ROC [Republic of China], and of course he abides by the ROC Constitution … Only those who do not identify with the ROC would accuse him of trying to sell out the country,” Wu said.
Wu dismissed the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) criticism of his meeting with Xi on Thursday. The DPP accused the Ma administration of damaging the nation’s sovereignty by using the KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) communication mechanism.
The opposition party also criticized Ma for reiterating earlier this week that relations between Taiwan and China are not state-to-state. The DPP expressed concerns about the Ma administration’s agreement with China to set up representative offices on each side of the Taiwan Strait.
The establishment of the offices, the DPP said, could speed up bilateral political negotiations, which could include exchange visits of high-ranking officials and the removal of the missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Separately yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) echoed Wu’s comments and said the government’s stance that “one China” refers to the ROC remains unchanged.
“The government’s stance on cross-strait ties is based on the 1992 consensus and our stance that ‘one China’ means the ROC is unequivocal and has never changed,” he said at a meeting in Kaohsiung with China-based Taiwanese businesspeople.
At the legislature in Taipei, while fielding a question from Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said that the messages conveyed by Wu to Xi “did not represent the government’s position.”
Jiang said that was because the Wu-Xi meeting was conducted under the KMT-CCP communication platform, adding that he paid close attention to what had been discussed at the meeting and he did not think that Wu represented the government in his talks with Xi.
Talks with China on any issue should be conducted by the government, Jiang said.
Wu said during his meeting with Xi that both Taiwan and China advocate the “one China” principle based on their respective laws and systems, and both use a “one China” framework to define cross-strait relations.
Asked to express his views on Wu’s “one China” framework statement, Jiang said: “We believe that the ‘one China’ [Wu] referred to is the Republic of China.”
As long as “one China” means the ROC, he agreed to the description that cross-strait relations are under a “one China” framework, Jiang said.
“The Constitution is also based on the ‘one China’ framework, under which there is the Taiwan area and the mainland area,” Jiang added.
Jiang tried to defuse Hsu’s concern that Wu referred to “one China” as the People’s Republic of China, saying he did not believe that Wu interpreted “one China” that way.
Hsu disagreed, saying: “How could it be possible that [Wu] intended to say that ‘one China’ means the ROC. He was making the statement in China.”
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
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
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.
RSS