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.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
RSS