Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will ask Chinese authorities during his visit to China to remove missiles aimed at Taiwan, a KMT lawmaker said yesterday in Hong Kong.
Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who is also a member of the KMT's Central Standing Committee, made the remarks after attending a forum on cross-strait relations.
To the best of his understanding, Wu said Lien would bring up four main topics during his trip.
First, Wu said, Lien will ask Chinese authorities to eliminate barriers to cross-strait cultural and commercial exchanges, such as exempting or reducing tariffs on agricultural and industrial imports from Taiwan.
Second, Wu said, Lien will urge Beijing not to block Taiwan's entry to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"For the sake of epidemic prevention, Taiwan must be included in the WHO-led global health care system. If China continues to block Taiwan's WHO bid, it will draw a backlash from the Taiwan people and hinder the development of cross-strait rapprochement," Wu said.
Third, Wu said, Lien will push China to relocate the hundreds of ballistic missiles deployed in Fujian Province that are targeting Taiwan.
"If China indeed wants to make peace with Taiwan, it should relocate or dismantle its missiles aimed at Taiwan. Otherwise, the people of Taiwan will have ill feelings and doubts about Beijing's sincerity," Wu said.
Lien will ask the Chinese authorities to allow Chinese citizens to make sightseeing trips to Taiwan to promote civilian exchanges and mutual understanding, Wu said.
He said the KMT is willing to do whatever is conducive to Taiwanese people's well-being and cross-strait peace.
Wu delivered a speech on new developments in cross-strait relations at the seminar, sponsored by a federation of Taiwanese business associations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Addressing hundreds of Hong Kong academics, experts and business executives at the seminar, Wu said Hong Kong should strengthen exchanges with Taiwan to maintain its pivotal role in cross-strait engagements.
Wu said he believes that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai can strengthen cooperation in transshipment, trade, industrial investment and tourist development.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma said that he strongly believes that Lien will not sign any peace agreements with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Jintao (
Stressing that Lien's visit is aimed at maintaining peace, Ma said that Lien will speak for the people of Taiwan while seeking to help lay a foundation for cross-strait peace.
Lien's visit, planned for early next month, will mark the first KMT-CCP contact in more than 60 years. He is slated to meet Hu in Beijing, in addition to making stops in Nanjing, Xi'an and Shanghai.
‘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 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
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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS