Visiting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on Saturday panned a "cross-strait common market" concept advocated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate as "ridiculously unrealistic."
In a speech to a group of Taiwanese expatriates from the greater New York area, Hsieh said he firmly opposed the cross-strait common market mechanism being advocated, adding that if the common market were to be implemented, Chinese women -- known to have been smuggled into Taiwan by human traffickers largely to work in the underground sex trade -- would no longer need to be smuggled into Taiwan as illegal immigrants.
Noting that the gulf between the two sides in various sectors is too wide to bridge, Hsieh said that with problems regarding foreign laborers working in Taiwan already hard to handle, Taiwan's government and people would find themselves facing an even bigger headache should workers from China be introduced into Taiwan under a "common market" system.
Addressing the issue of whether he would choose former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) or former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) as his running mate for next year's presidential race, Hsieh said he is remaining open-minded and would not make a subjective decision based on his personal feelings.
Hsieh said he would do all he could, including asking repeatedly after first being turned down, to win the consent of his chosen future running mate in order to enable the DPP to win the election.
Meanwhile, Hsieh called for all Taiwanese expatriates in the US to return to Taiwan to cast their votes for the DPP next March or at least make telephone calls to help broaden the DPP's support base, because Taiwan could not afford to allow "the corrupt" KMT to return to power.
Accompanied by 14 DPP legislators, Hsieh arrived in New York on Friday, starting a 10-day visit which will also take him to Washington, Detroit and Los Angeles.
On Saturday afternoon, Hsieh joined DPP legislators Hsiao Pi-khim (蕭美琴) and Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) to watch a Yankees baseball game.
Hsieh said if he was elected president, he would invite the New York Yankees to Taiwan to play some friendly baseball games with their Taiwanese counterparts.
Hsieh was scheduled to travel to Washington yesterday, where he would address the National Press Club on "mutualism and Taiwan's national security agenda" and give a speech on Capitol Hill on "American values and Taiwan's existence."
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS