People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) will begin his landmark journey to China on May 5, the party said yesterday, adding that the agenda for his trip is still being hammered out.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the PFP said the preliminary results of party secretary-general Chin Chin-sheng's (秦金生) working trip to China have Soong leaving for Xian, China on May 5 and returning from Beijing to Taiwan on May 12. All other details are still being settled by Chin in China, the statement read.
Chin left for Beijing on Sunday with other PFP personnel to discuss the details of Soong's upcoming trip with Chinese authorities. According to the party, Chin was received by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), the chairman of China's People's Political Consultative Conference, on Sunday night. The two spoke until 4am the next morning about the details of the trip, the party said.
Jia last month invited Soong and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to visit Beijing in their capacity as party chairmen. While Lien is leaving on his trip to China today, the PFP waited until last week to formally accept and begin planning their trip.
During the meeting on Sunday, Jia expressed his respect for the PFP's long-term efforts to facilitate cross-strait relations and cross-strait peace, the statement said.
"This is the first time officials from the PFP and the CCP have come in contact. Both sides understand that there are numerous difficulties involved in improving cross-strait relations, but both also expect to gradually break through those difficulties," the statement read.
Given the similar natures and origin of their trips, Lien and Soong's trips have been widely compared by the media.
Lien said at a press conference yesterday morning that while he does not know the specifics of the PFP trip, the KMT welcomes any efforts to facilitate cross-strait peace and dialogue.
Chin is set to return from China tomorrow.
‘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 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
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