The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday slammed the Mainland Affairs Council for its “near incompetence” regarding China’s new measure to issue residency cards to Taiwanese and called for more concrete countermeasures from the Taiwanese government.
“Although China unveiled the measure well before last week, the council did not state any plans to counter it until the party [on Tuesday] last week advocated amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) so that card holders would be treated the same as those with household registration in China by requiring them to report to the Taiwanese government,” NPP Legislator and party caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) told a news conference in Taipei.
Although the council finally announced on Thursday last week that card holders would be required to report to the authorities, it has yet to decide whether to suspend or cancel card holders’ household registration in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: CNA
A tougher approach and more concrete countermeasures from the government would not restrict the rights of Taiwanese living in China, but rather “offer them more bargaining chips when negotiating with Chinese authorities and prevent them from being pressured into applying for the card,” he added.
The council’s attitude toward China has been “not only timid, but nearly incompetent,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.
“Taiwanese have all been wondering what the council and the Straits Exchange Foundation have been doing. If they cannot propose any concrete countermeasures, we might as well get the Executive Yuan to put them under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
Hsu said the party would be meeting with Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) to get an idea of how many Taiwanese have applied for the card, whether Taiwanese have been forced to apply — and, if so, who are more likely to be pressured — and how the council plans to respond to China, adding that the party would share what it learns at the meeting with the public.
While Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) plans to propose a draft amendment similar to the NPP bill, Hsu said he hopes that other DPP members would also support the effort.
The Chinese State Council Information Office announced on Aug. 16 that from this month, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and Macanese who have lived in China for more than six months and are legally working, living or studying in the country would be eligible to apply for a residency card.
Card holders would be granted certain rights and benefits enjoyed by Chinese citizens, such as compulsory education, social insurance and housing subsidies.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS