Beijing yesterday refused to comment on the appointment of a pro-Taiwan former legislator as the head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), but said it looked forward to collaborating with the new administration on establishing direct weekend flights starting in July.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesman Li Weiyi (李維一) told a press conference yesterday that Beijing had no comment on the appointment of former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) as MAC chairwoman when asked by reporters about Beijing’s reaction to her new position.
“What we really care about is the future development of cross-strait relations,” Li said.
The spokesman also denied that Lai’s appointment was the reason why China reportedly reneged on its offer to allow Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) to visit Beijing in the near future.
“We welcome the visit of Chairman Wu,” Lee said.
Li went on to say Beijing looks forward to working with the new administration on improving cross-strait relations based on the “1992 Consensus,” calling it a “foundation to resolve practical matters” and solidify peace across the Taiwan Strait.
“We hope to resume negotiations on cross-strait isues based on the framework of the ‘1992 consensus,’” the spokesman repeated on a number of occasions.
The “1992 consensus” was a term coined by former MAC head Su Chi (蘇起) to describe the “consensus” between Taiwan and China during a meeting in Hong Kong in 1992 that both sides would adhere to the “one-China” principle with different interpretations.
The term, however, has been blasted by the Democratic Progressive Party, which insists no consensus ever existed.
President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) interpreted Beijing’s remarks as positive and pledged to carry out his cross-strait policies after his inauguration on May 20.
Ma’s spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said Ma’s stance on cross-strait issues was unchanged, and he would carry out his cross-strait policies as soon as possible through negotiations between the SEF and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
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
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
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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