The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged Beijing to refrain from unilaterally interpreting Taiwanese expectations of cross-strait relations to avoid misjudging the situation after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that the results from Saturday’s elections reflected the majority’s hopes of benefiting from peaceful ties.
The nine-in-one local elections and 10 referendums held alongside them were an internal affair, and their results are a testament to the mature development of democratic politics, the council said.
“This is at the core of Taiwan’s democratic value, something Beijing should respect and understand accurately,” it said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
“It [China] should neither interfere in our internal affairs, nor unilaterally interpret Taiwanese expectations. Doing so could lead to a misjudgement of cross-strait situations,” the council said.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) yesterday said the results, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) winning 15 out of the 22 cities and counties, were an indicator that most people in Taiwan hope to continue enjoying the benefits that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations could bring.
The KMT only won six cities and counties in the 2014 elections.
“We will continue to adhere to the 1992 consensus, staunchly oppose pro-independence separatist forces and activities, and unite the people of Taiwan and bring them on the path of peaceful development of cross-strait ties,” Ma said in Beijing.
More city-to-city exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait on the basis of a “correct perception of the nature of cross-strait relations and city-to-city exchanges” would be welcomed, he said.
Ma also took a swipe at the initiator of a referendum seeking to rename Taiwan’s Olympic team, saying that its failure showed that it was an unpopular attempt to put the rights of Taiwanese athletes at stake and that the pro-independence movement is doomed to fail.
The referendum only received 4,763,086 “yes” votes, or 24.11 percent of eligible voters. A total of 5,774,556 voted “no.”
“The government has maintained a consistent stance to safeguard the peaceful and stable status quo of the Taiwan Strait and our national sovereignty. This is a consensus shared by the people of Taiwan and the expectation of the international community,” the council said, urging Beijing to face the cross-strait reality pragmatically.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and Beijing that both sides acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The Democratic Progressive Party administration has refused to acknowledge the consensus.
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
RSS