President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the remarks when giving a lecture at the Ketagelan School, a political academy founded by Chen in March 2003.
According to lecture attendees who responded to media queries after the lecture, the president said that opposition party leaders must not overstep their bounds nor make any promises with the other side of the Strait on issues unless they are consistent with national policies or agreements reached by the nation's governing and opposition parties.
The remarks came as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Lien is scheduled to leave for China on Tuesday and meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
According to the KMT's itinerary, Lien will visit Xian, deliver a speech at Peking University and meet with Taiwanese businesspeople in Shanghai before returning to Taipei on May 3.
Soong has also accepted Hu's invitation to visit China. A mission led by PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (
Chen and Lien will speak by telephone tomorrow afternoon regarding Lien's trip to China on Tuesday.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun on Thursday relayed the president's stance to the KMT, saying that the president would support Lien's China trip if it was premised on upholding the nation's interests and putting Taiwan and China on an equal footing.
Meanwhile, a day after she called on Lien and Soong to demand that Beijing fly the Republic of China's (ROC) national flag during their visits in China, Vice President Annette Lu (
"Lien was once ambassador to El Salvador and is somebody who attaches importance to diplomatic affairs," Lu said, referring to Lien's government post as the nation's representative to El Salvador from 1975-1976. "If Lien is really determined to safeguard the ROC's national integrity, he should do it while in Beijing."
"The other side of the Strait is the only country in the whole world who wants to wipe out the ROC's existence," Lu added, "it would be a great deed if [Lien] would safeguard the ROC while setting foot on the other side of the Strait; better yet if he could further the ROC's diplomatic relations by turning a country that's against us into our diplomatic ally."
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
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Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
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