Speaking in Singapore yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
While at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy yesterday, Lien spoke about the KMT's position on cross-strait relations, criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration for Taiwan's economic situation.
The security of the Taiwan Strait and peace between China and Taiwan are issues which all the people in the world are concerned about, making the need for cross-strait exchange and dialogue beyond question, Lien said.
COMMON HOPE
The common hope of both Taiwan and China is to pursue high standards of living and high-quality living environments; as a result, it is obvious that the countries need peaceful exchanges and to avoid armed confrontation, Lien added.
A focus of media attention yesterday was whether or not Lien would be secretly meeting with representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while in Singapore, which the KMT denied Saturday.
Chinese-language media had speculated Saturday that Lien might meet with representatives of the CCP during a dinner banquet hosted by former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (
STATEMENTS
In a statement released Saturday night, KMT Spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said that no such meetings been arranged from the Singaporean side. Furthermore, Chang said, Lien has no need for such a meeting given that the KMT is openly arranging his trip to China and meetings there with high-ranking leaders.
According to the KMT, during his two-day stay in Singapore, Lien also visited the Sun Yat-sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (
Meanwhile, speaking in reaction to recent comments by President Chen Shui-bian (
Referring to the last talks between the KMT and the CCP in 1945, Chen said Saturday that in 1945, the KMT lost China. If Lien goes to talk to China today, Chen asked Saturday, will we also lose Taiwan?
While in Ilan, Ma said that the president should not have said such comments.
"Opposition parties do not have the ability to `sell out Taiwan,' only the ruling party has that ability, because opposition parties do not have administrative power, only a mouth [to speak out]. Lien Chan is bravely walking forward. If he can create a catalyst for peace across the strait, then President Chen should finish the process with a heart full of joy," Ma said yesterday.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
RSS