The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) chairman yesterday vowed he would request Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman-designate Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) withdraw from her position if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration fails to uphold the basic principles it promised to the party when dealing with cross-strait relations.
“As a responsible opposition party, we will continue to monitor the performance of the KMT government closely,” said TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝).
Huang said president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited him on Sunday night to ask for his approval of Lai’s appointment. Huang said they talked for about an hour and he laid down three principles for cross-strait policy, which Ma agreed with.
The KMT government must promise to safeguard national dignity, take care of the interest of the Taiwanese people and manifest Taiwan-centered consciousness, Huang said.
“We don’t have any problem with recalling her if the Ma administration violates those three principles,” Huang said. “For us, her recruitment to the new government is like one of our daughters marrying into a new family and we will not punish her, like other political parties, for joining the KMT government.”
Huang said Ma told him that he was impressed by Lai’s performance in the legislature, her clean image, professionalism and competence. Lai’s experience at the National Security Council, negotiation skills at the WTO and in-depth knowledge of cross-strait relations made an impression on Ma, Huang said.
Describing his conversation with Ma as “rational,” Huang said it ushered in a new era of politics and political cooperation. In order to promote unity and harmony among political parties, Huang said he proposed that Ma call regular meetings with party leaders. Huang said Ma did not give a definite answer but said his proposal deserved consideration.
Huang said that Lai was surprised at Ma’s offer but decided to join the KMT administration as a TSU member. She does not hold any party position and will not partake in any party-related activities in the future, Huang said.
While concern was raised over her political position, Huang said such concern was based on a lack of understanding of the TSU, which has transformed itself from embracing die-hard pro-independence to pursuing the “center left” path.
As for the attitude of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the spiritual leader of TSU, Huang said Lee thought a professional talent must serve the country, not just a party.
Meanwhile, Lai yesterday said that she shouldn’t have any problem cooperating with the KMT administration and pushing its cross-strait agenda because she sees eye to eye with the president-elect.
Lai said she agreed with Ma’s theory of “no unification, no independence and no military force” and concurred that the status quo of the Republic of China must be maintained.
She also agreed with Ma that cross-strait relations must develop on the foundation that Taiwan’s interest is put first, the people of Taiwan benefit from it and Taiwan-centered consciousness is protected.
Lai said while it was necessary to further ease restrictions on cross-strait trade, the government must minimize the negative impact.
When asked about the concerns over her appointment, Lai said that it was indeed a challenge and she would like to call on her opponents to judge her by her performance.
Regarding how the Mainland Affairs Council should cooperate with the Straits Exchange Foundation, Lai said they would each perform their individual duties under the legal framework.
As for Ma’s pledge to materialize weekend charter flights by July, Lai said that she was confident she could reach the goal but emphasized that it would also hinge on goodwill from Beijing.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS