The government will not accept the pandas that China reportedly is planning to give Taiwan if Beijing attempts to downgrade Taiwan's status to become part of China through the gift, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Home and Nations Committee in response to reports that the municipal government of Shanghai might offer to present two pandas to Taipei City in the name of city exchanges before a delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Wu pointed out that the issue of pandas coming to Taiwan has been discussed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait on 10 occasions since 1992, including one instance when Beijing proposed sending the animals to Taiwan for exhibition.
None of those plans were realized mainly because of an assessment by the Council of Agriculture indicating that Taiwan lacks the ability to raise pandas, which are an endangered species, Wu said.
In Shanghai, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) confirmed that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) discussed the panda issue with Lien during their meeting last Friday and that Beijing authorities also mentioned the possibility of granting tariff-free treatment to some Taiwanese agricultural products while receiving the KMT delegation.
Lin said he believes Beijing will make an announcement of its decisions soon.
Also yesterday, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po daily cited Xu Bodong (徐博東), a professor of Taiwan studies at Beijing Union University, as saying that it is "political obstacles," rather than technical problems, that is preventing Taiwan from accepting the pandas.
Xu said Shanghai is more suitable than Beijing to make the offer to Taiwan because the pandas are a gift for the people of Taiwan and a token of friendship between the cities of Shanghai and Taipei.
The gift can also promote exchanges between the Shanghai Zoo and Taipei Zoo, Xu said.
Xu claimed that judging from the climate, environment, food and technology in Taiwan, it is not inferior to any Chinese city in terms of ability to raise pandas.
Meanwhile, Pei Enle, deputy head of the Shanghai Zoo, told the paper that there is only one panda left in the zoo after the other one was loaned to the Memphis Zoo in the US.
Pei said it is quite unlikely that the zoo will give its only remaining panda to Lien and that the zoo has not received any notification concerning the matter.
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,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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
RSS