Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday questioned Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) at the legislature on the prudence of using “Chinese Taipei” for the nation’s membership bids for international organizations, saying the name would mislead foreigners into believing Taiwan is part of China.
“The most accurate translation of ‘Chinese Taipei’ is ‘the Taipei that belongs to China.’ Our foreign friends will think we have agreed to be part of China if we use that term as our title in the international arena,” DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said. “Only unificationists would use the term ‘Chinese Taipei.’”
Chai said that using “Chinese Taipei” was equivalent to downgrading the nation’s sovereignty, was an insult to its dignity and displayed shocking disrespect toward the public.
Lai said she had no idea how foreigners would interpret the term “Chinese Taipei,” but that the term had been used on many occasions.
Lai made her remarks at a breakfast meeting with DPP caucus members.
Lai was invited to brief the caucus about the Straits Exchange Foundation’s (SEF) resumption of talks with its counterpart, China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) delineated the caucus’ requests for the talks: that the “1992 consensus” not be described as an agreement and that direct cargo and charter flights be worked out by the SEF and ARATS, but require approval by the legislature.
“By law the SEF reports to the MAC, the MAC reports to the Cabinet and the Cabinet reports to the legislature. Of course, any agreement between the SEF and ARATS will be reviewed and approved by the legislature,” Lai said.
The DPP lawmakers said their second major concern, in addition to the nation’s title in international organizations, was expeditiously launching direct cargo flights across the strait.
Lai assured DPP lawmakers that the SEF would seek to launch cargo flights, but that the start date for such flights would be delayed.
“We need to talk about certain mechanisms in greater detail. It takes time,” Lai said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) demanded that Lai step down if the SEF fails to negotiate a start date for direct cargo flight at next week’s talks.
“Direct cargo flights are what will really benefit Taiwan, not passenger flights or opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists,” Tsai said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS