Speaking on the eve of the party's first official delegation to visit China since 1949, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday that the mission of the KMT is provide the people with alternatives in the face of worsening cross-strait tensions.
"As the nation's largest opposition party, it is the duty of the KMT to create alternate choices and visions for the people," Lien said. "We cannot stay silent and inactive when we see that a situation where a helpless administration sends us on a collision course [with China]."
"The KMT does not support Taiwanese independence, but we do not believe that China should react with military action ... both sides of the strait should increase their efforts to open dialogue and seek mutual benefits," Lien added.
Lien made the remarks yesterday morning to the 35-member delegation at the KMT headquarters.
The delegation is set to leave for China today.
The group, which is headed by KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤), will spend five days in China. It will first go to the Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs in Guangzhou on March 28 and then fly to Nanjing on March 29 to pay the party's respects to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. The last two days of the trip will be spent in Beijing visiting the Sun Yat-sen monument in Xiangshan.
The trip, which was first made public by Lien Feb. 28, is being planned ostensibly to allow the KMT to commemorate the memory of its founder, Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) -- also founding father of the Republic of China -- on the 80th anniversary of Sun's death.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Chiang said that the delegation would be meeting with the Taiwanese businesspeople living in China, and, if given the chance, Chinese government officials.
However, he refused to discuss which government officials the delegation would be meeting.
Chiang also said that besides helping his party pay its respects to its founder, the trip also has economic goals.
While in China, said Chiang, he hopes to talk with Chinese officials about establishing three direct transportation links across the Taiwan Strait and about direct cargo charter flights.
Besides Chiang, the members of the delegation include office director Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超), KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), KMT Secretary-General Huang Fu-tien (黃福田), party policy executive director Cheng Feng-shih (鄭逢時), culture and communications head Lai Su-chu (賴素如), and legislators Wu Sung-pi (吳松柏), Chao Erh-chung (曹爾忠), Yang Chung-ying (楊瓊櫻) and Chu Feng-chih (朱鳳芝).
Given that Chang, the KMT's former mainland affairs division head and current spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), are also part of the delegation, local Chinese-language media speculated yesterday that the trip will pave the way for a trip by Lien to China in June.
When asked about the prospect, party officials, however, refused to comment.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS