The legislative caucus of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that Taiwan will "never fail" if the two sides of the Taiwan Strait engage in government-to-government dialogue.
DPP caucus whip Lai Ching-teh (
Lai said that state-to-state dialogue would conform with the interests of the US and Taiwan.
He said that the US saw China as the most important power in the Asia-Pacific region in regard to the maintenance of peace and stability, and that Taiwan could be a key force in the process.
If China took advantage of opposition parties for political gain as part of "united front" tactics, then Taiwan would either be unstable or end up under Chinese control -- both of which would be unwelcome developments for the US, he said.
Lai said Chen was elected by the people and that with the people behind him, government-to-government talks would foil Beijing's attempts to splinter Taiwan.
He also slammed the meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on Friday. A platform for more communication between the KMT and the CCP was released in a five-point bulletin after the talks.
Lai said the DPP suspects there is a three-part agenda shared by the KMT and the CCP -- the first being the Lien-Hu meeting, the second an exchange of offices, and thirdly the signing of a peace and trade agreement.
Lien alleged Lien and Hu adjusted the "exchange of offices" to a "communication platform" and changed the "agreement" to a "news bulletin" for fear of violating Taiwanese law.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS