Key DPP China policy advisors voiced their support for economic integration across the Taiwan Strait yesterday.
"The party looks forward to economic integration with China in line with the trend of globalization," Yen Chien-fa (顏建發), director of the DPP's China affairs department, said yesterday at a seminar on cross-strait affairs.
Yen rebuffed charges by the opposition that the DPP's refusal to recognize the "one China" principle has blocked cross-strait dialogue, without which it is impossible to remove obstacles to direct trade links between the two sides.
Yen noted that the DPP has agreed to recognize the country's title as the Republic of China in accordance with the Constitution.
In 1999 the DPP, seeking to woo swing voters during last year's presidential election, toned down its pro-independence rhetoric by adopting a document called "the Resolution on Taiwan's Future."
The resolution calls for any change to Taiwan's status to be decided by a plebiscite.
"The cross-strait stalemate stems from Beijing's refusal to acknowledge the existence of the ROC," Yen said.
Echoing President Chen Shui-bian (
"It should be treated as an issue at the negotiating table rather than a precondition for resuming dialogue as Beijing has insisted," Yen said.
He warned that acceptance of the "one China" principle by Taiwan would lead the world to view cross-strait disputes as "domestic" in nature.
Still, he voiced support for an engagement approach to improving trade ties between the two sides.
To achieve that goal, DPP lawmaker Chang Chun-hung (
Chang, who just returned from a trip to China, said further delay would put the country in a less favorable bargaining position, as the giant neighbor has made remarkable economic progress.
"It is urgent that Taiwan adopt a more proactive policy toward China or it will soon lose its economic advantage," cautioned the DPP legislator.
Chang also said that over the years legal restrictions have only served to punish law-abiding entrepreneurs, as the government has failed to prevent many local investors from moving their businesses across the Strait.
Official statistics show that more than 50,000 businesses in China are owned by Taiwanese businessmen, with a total capitalization amounting to roughly US$60 billion.
Chang said he was aware his opinion would draw criticism from some members of his party, but that he would not back down from playing the role of "a prophet."
Taking a step further, lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (
Shen, who has proposed a commonwealth between Taiwan and China to resolve the cross-strait entanglement, said he was personally receptive to the "one China, different interpretations" consensus reportedly struck by bilateral envoys.
"If Beijing allows for different interpretations of `one China' and promises to be consistent when addressing the issue at home and abroad, we may as well uphold the so-called 1992 consensus, existing or not," Shen said.
The DPP has actually been more flexible and pragmatic than China and the opposition, Shen said, advising the president to make reconciling the opposition parties his top agenda item after the year-end elections.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS