In response to repeated calls from foreign businesspeople for the government to implement direct cross-strait links, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged them to help bring Beijing to the negotiating table with Taipei.
Council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said businesspeople focus on making money but tend to overlook the overall impact that launching direct links may have.
Chiu thanked the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) for their opinions on the three direct links -- transportation, trade and post -- but added the government had to consider the damage they may cause.
"Our government has done a lot of research to map out cross-strait policies. We are also working on supportive measures for these policies," Chiu said at a seminar entitled "Cross-strait Social Development" co-hosted by the council and National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development.
Chiu delivered the opening speech for the seminar on behalf of MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). Two academics from Nanking were invited as speakers to the seminar.
"We hope AmCham and the ECCT can help us persuade Bei-jing to remove some of the barriers it set in the way of cross-strait talks ... The thing is that Taiwan alone cannot conduct negotiations with China even though it is already well prepared," Chiu said.
China also needs to work out details about how to reopen talks with Taiwan, the official said.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said in his inaugural speech that Taiwan and China can promote trade and cultural exchanges, Chiu said, "but so far Beijing has not given us the kind of response that we expected."
However, Chiu said, Beijing has hinted that it wishes that the two sides can resume negotiations conducted by its semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and its local counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation.
"That's why Chairman Wu, after talking to Premier Yu Shyi-kun, decided to invite ARATS Chairman Wang Daohan (
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia James Kelly said on Wednesday that Taiwan and China are still a long away from negotiations. In response, Chiu said if it was difficult for governments on both sides to talk, they might authorize private organizations to conduct negotiations.
"President Chen hopes Taiwan and China can send envoys to each other's capitals so that they can communicate directly. That would reduce a lot of misunderstanding between us," Chiu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as