While leaders of China and the US were scheduled to conduct bilateral talks yesterday on the first day of the leaders' summit, President Chen Shui-bian's (
"I don't know anything about a meeting between President Hu Jintao (
Quan made the remark Friday afternoon during a press conference held at the Mario Hotel, where Hu and the Chinese delegation are staying during the event.
Kong sang a hackneyed tune while commenting on China-US relations.
"The Taiwan problem is the primary interest of the Chinese people and the core element of Sino-American relations," he said. "Only if the Taiwan issue is properly handled can Sino-American relations be developed in a healthy manner."
As evidence of healthy China-US relations, Kong said that President Bush had telephoned Hu before leaving for Chile.
"President Bush thanked President Hu for sending telegrams to congratulate him on winning his second term," he said. "He also pledged to continue the development of Sino-American relations for the next four years. In addition, he reiterated the `one China' policy, honored the three Sino-American communiques and opposed Taiwan independence."
He also criticized Taiwan's "independence separatists" for causing instability across the Taiwan Strait, Kong said.
Commenting on the possibility of resuming talks on cross-strait direct transportation links, Kong rudely responded to a Hong Kong reporter who asked the question by suggesting the reporter "buy a plane ticket to Beijing to ask the spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office (
"Or better yet, you might want to make a phone call now and find out," he said.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
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