Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday said that any further breakthroughs between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will have to be achieved “slowly, one step at a time.”
Previously, China referred to the council by all kinds of alternative names, but it used the title “Mainland Affairs Council” for the first time during Wang’s visit last week, he said in a radio interview.
“This is progress, a breakthrough,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Wang said that other breakthroughs achieved during his four-day visit included his public reference to the Republic of China (ROC) and the use of his official title on a card attached to a wreath presented at ROC founding father Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) mausoleum in Nanjing.
Wang said that the proposal to hold a presidential summit between the two sides during the Beijing-sponsored Boao Forum for Asia will have to be studied.
He gave that assessment after the Chinese government ruled out the possibility of such a summit taking place at the APEC forum in Beijing in November.
China does not deem it appropriate for the leaders from each side of the Taiwan Strait to meet in an international setting such as the APEC forum, so the possibility of them meeting at that time is not high, Wang said.
Wang added that he would ask former vice president and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to raise the issue of officials’ right to visit detainees on the opposite side during his visit to China.
Lien left for Beijing yesterday.
The two sides have in principle reached an agreement to set up reciprocal representative offices, but there are still differences over Taiwan’s request that officials of its proposed representative office in China be allowed to visit Taiwanese detainees there, and vice versa.
Lien, who chairs the Lien Chan Foundation for Peace and Development, is leading a delegation of business and KMT officials on a four-day visit, during which they will attend a forum and exchange ideas with their counterparts in China.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) yesterday said in Beijing that Lien will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
It will be Lien’s second meeting with Xi in as many years.
Lien’s visit will be meaningful for the expansion and deepening of exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and will be beneficial to enhancing mutual understanding between the two sides, Fan said, lauding Lien for making significant contributions to promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
In 2005, Lien became the first top KMT leader to visit China since 1949. Since then, he has maintained warm relations with top CCP leaders, including Xi’s predecessor former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Fan said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College