A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus leader yesterday demanded that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) disclose the contents of an alleged "secret agreement" that KMT officials reportedly forged with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Party whip and Legislator Lai Ching-teh (賴清德), said at the Legislative Yuan yesterday the DPP caucus is opposed to the KMT forging a "secret accord" with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that could jeopardize Taiwan's future.
The press has reported that KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (
PHOTO: CNA
Lai said he wants the KMT leadership to make known immediately the details of the Hong Kong meeting, including which Chinese officials they met and the specific details of the meeting.
Lai called for Lien, as chairman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, not to act "tempestuously like spoiled child" in his efforts to go to China and meet with Chinese officials, saying that the KMT should have learned from the "bloody lessons" of two rounds of "reconciliation" talks with the Chinese communists before the KMT government fled to Taiwan more than 50 years ago.
Meanwhile, Legislator Chen Chin-jun (
These include that Lien meet with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) before the trip, that Lien swear not to strike any "secret agreement" with China, the entire China trip be open to cameras and reporters, that Lien make known that he is representing only "part" of Taiwanese public opinion, he let Beijing know that Taiwan independence is a possible option in the development of cross-strait relations, and that the "one country, two systems" scheme is unacceptable.
Chen Chin-jun said that Lien should meet at least six of the 10 conditions, claiming that if he only meets three or less, he should be considered "a traitor deserving nationwide condemnation."
In response, the KMT denied that party officials had forged a secret agreement with the CCP at Wednesday's meeting in Hong Kong.
Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
Meanwhile, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday that Lien's trip to China could "de-governmentalize" cross-strait dialogue to the nation's detriment.
"In terms of cross-strait dialogue and exchange, we've already accumulated a substantial amount of experience under different administrations and built a framework for interaction. The government does not want to see the fundamentals of cross-strait interaction damaged as a result of an opposition party's trip to China," council Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (
He said the government feared the trip would shift cross-strait negotiations toward the private sector, saying that interaction would become "de-governmentalized."
Liu explained that agricultural trade between Taiwan and China could have been easily conducted within the framework of the WTO and that bypassing the government had complicated the matter.
"If Chinese authorities really want to express good will ? they should face Taiwan's 23 million people, not just one particular political party, and an opposition party, no less," Liu said, adding that it was clear that China had ulterior motives in dealing with opposition parties instead of the government.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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