The meeting between the US President George W. Bush and the Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the White House on Thursday turned into a farce after interruptions and missteps marred what was supposed to be a well-orchestrated diplomatic ceremony, political observers said yesterday.
"It was a ridiculous and embarrassing situation for Hu. Beijing's hopes that Bush would strongly censure Taiwan during the meeting were totally shattered," said Cao Changqing (
Cao, who has been banned from returning to China, made the comments at a press conference held by the pro-independence Taiwan Advocates think tank to comment on the just-concluded Bush-Hu meeting and its implications for US-China-Taiwan relations.
Cao said the meeting was "entertaining and educational" as Hu was challenged by protestors, took sharp questions from reporters about democracy in China and faced Bush's unwillingness to make any adverse comments about Taiwan independence.
"The two leaders spoke about totally different things. Bush wanted the trade deficit and human rights issues in China to be discussed and had a soft touch on the Taiwan issue, while Hu only cared about denouncing Taiwan independence," Cao said.
Hu Ping (
Hu Ping noted that Hu Jintao sent a message to the US government that China was able to influence major US capitalists, after he met with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Boeing executives in Seattle and promised to buy more than 2,000 Boeing airplanes.
"The way that China challenges American capitalism made the US government take countermeasures to communicate its displeasure to China," Hu said.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
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