The Executive Yuan has drafted an amendment to extend the period during which retired generals would be prohibited from traveling to China in an apparent response to two retired generals praising Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at a political event in China last year.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday said it has drafted an amendment to 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) to extend the period during which former generals, mayors, science officials and intelligence officers must obtain Ministry of the Interior approval before they can travel to China to 15 years from three years.
The proposed amendment aims to prevent retired government and military officials from attending events in China that could unduly assert Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, the Executive Yuan said.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official People’s Daily on Jan. 29 reported that two retired Taiwanese generals, Huang Shing-chiang (黃幸強) and Chen Ting-chung (陳廷寵) in December last year attended the Cross-Strait Generals Forum in Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province.
The report was written by former Chinese-language People’s Liberation Army Daily president Huang Guozhu (黃國柱) and was titled: “Look over here, Taiwanese generals: Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan.”
At the event, Taiwanese generals discussed “reform and liberalization to jointly pursue development” with their Chinese counterparts, sang the Chinese national anthem and joined others in issuing an “initiative for peaceful unification,” the report said.
The generals also praised the “five points” that Xi mentioned in an address on Jan. 2, it said.
The paper quoted them as saying that China’s transformation to a more liberal economy has brought “tremendous benefits” to Chinese and Taiwanese, and that they endorsed the so-called “1992 consensus” and Beijing’s “one China” principle.
Huang was quoted as saying that “the hope of cross-strait unification must not evaporate. This is our shared goal as Chinese and members of the Zhonghua minzu [Chinese ethnic group, 中華民族].”
“When the development of Chinese culture reaches its climax, our nation shall be at its most powerful. Turning one’s back on Chinese culture would be forcing one’s self into oblivion,” Chen said, according to the report.
When reached for comment, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) on Saturday said that soldiers have a duty to protect the nation, so if they ingratiate themselves with China, it would defeat the purpose of having a military.
Retired generals who ingratiate themselves with China do not deserve a pension, he added.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS