The Presidential Office yesterday said that People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (
Soong yesterday told students at Beijing's Tsinghua University that "it is the PFP's consistent stance that Taiwan independence is a dead end; Taiwan independence has never been a choice that the PFP and Taiwan should make."
While stating that every individual in Taiwan is entitled to his own opinion and enjoys freedom of speech, the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs expressed disapproval at Soong's comments by referring to a 10-point consensus reached between Soong and President Chen Shui-bian (
Soong is currently on a tour of China which he has dubbed "bridge-building." Prior to his departure, Soong said he would discuss the 10-point consensus with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), who he is expected to meet today.
The Presidential Office said that, according to the sixth point in the Chen-Soong consensus issued on Feb. 24, any change to the status quo between Taiwan and China had to be determined by Taiwan's 23 million people and that no option -- including Taiwanese independence -- would be ruled out.
Ahead of Soong's meeting with Hu, the Presidential Office yesterday renewed its denunciation of the so-called "1992 consensus."
The Presidential Office statement said there never was a consensus, despite various references to the "1992 consensus" in the wake of trips by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Saying that none of the people who attended the Hong Kong meeting mentioned a "1992 consensus" before or after the talks, the statement added that the term was created by former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (
"One ought not to attach historic truth to a term that was created after the event," the statement said, adding that history should not be "changed, misinterpreted or misrepresented" by anybody as the political landscape changes.
Stating that there exists a complete archived record of the process and results of the 1992 negotiations, the Presidential Office said that the late chairman of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Koo Chen-fu (
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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