The Executive Yuan yesterday urged Beijing to accept the nation’s request to evacuate about 300 Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan, China, after the city was locked down because of a coronavirus outbreak.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said that the Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation have so far received more than 200 telephone calls from Taiwanese barred from leaving Wuhan, requesting the government’s assistance in returning home.
The council has informed Beijing that it wants to charter a flight to evacuate Taiwanese in Wuhan, Kolas said, adding that the council was making the request out of humanitarian considerations.
Photo: CNA
So far, China has yet to agree to this arrangement, she added.
“We urge Beijing to refrain from making a decision on this matter based on political considerations,” she said.
The Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan are not businesspeople living in the city, but had traveled there for business trips or short tours, she said, adding that they are not being “properly looked after” as China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has claimed.
“We hope that Beijing will seriously consider our request to bring our compatriots back using a charter flight, considering that some of them have chronic diseases,” she said.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in a statement on Tuesday that, as of Monday it had not received any reports from its branch in Hubei Province — of which Wuhan is the capital — of any Taiwanese having contracted the virus.
He said that its staff members in Hubei have cared for the needs of Taiwanese in Wuhan and have instantly resolved their problems in accordance with its policy to contain the viral outbreak.
Ma said that China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits had received a request to evacuate Taiwanese from the Straits Exchange Foundation at 6pm on Monday, but denied that the two sides were negotiating any kind of arrangement.
“We have been deeply concerned about the welfare and health of our Taiwanese compatriots since we began our work of curbing the spread of the viral pneumonia and have been in close contact with relevant authorities in Taiwan,” he said.
“We will arrange for Taiwanese experts to arrive in Wuhan to observe the situation and offer instant updates on the situation,” Ma added.
However, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the foundation has been trying to contact its counterpart in China as the government is very concerned about the well-being of Taiwanese in Wuhan.
“[From the statement] we can see that China does not contact us directly, but has said publicly that it would look into the situation and care for [Taiwanese]. We will keep trying to communicate” with China, Su said.
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
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS