Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) told Japan yesterday that while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration sought to improve relations with Beijing, it continued to attach great importance to relations with Tokyo and Washington.
Chiang, who led a six-member KMT delegation to Japan on Monday for a three-day visit, made the remarks while delivering a speech before some 200 Japanese political and business representatives and reporters in Tokyo yesterday.
Chiang, a vice chairman of the KMT, said the KMT administration’s cross-strait policy was to create a win-win situation for the economies on both sides and pursue peace in the Taiwan Strait.
The international strategy was to support the US-Japan security treaty, maintain friendly relations with Japan and the US and contribute to prosperity and security in Asia, he said.
Chiang said the KMT administration’s goal in cross-strait relations was to ink an agreement on economic cooperation with Beijing, with the long-term goal of establishing a common market. The KMT government was also amenable to signing free-trade agreements with the US, Japan and ASEAN countries, he said.
Referring to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “three noes” — no unification, no declaration of independence and no use of military force — and pursuit of peace and security based on the so-called “1992 consensus,” Chiang told the audience that, under such a framework, the Ma administration would like to establish a military confidence-building mechanism with Beijing, end the arms buildup on both sides of the Strait, sign a peace treaty and build sustainable peace in the Strait.
In Taipei, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said he expected designated representative to Tokyo John Feng (馮寄台) to deal skillfully in negotiations over fishing rights with Japan and help improve Taipei-Tokyo ties.
During a visit by Feng to the Legislative Yuan, Wang said Ma’s appointment of Feng, a longtime Ma aide, meant that Ma took the nation’s ties with Japan very seriously.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Feng’s appointment last Tuesday night, nearly 40 days after the seat was left vacant by Koh Sei-kai (許世楷), who resigned in June.
Feng, a KMT member, has served as ambassador to the Dominican Republic and as the ministry’s chief of protocol. He was also director of international affairs during Ma’s presidential campaign.
Feng vowed yesterday to promote relations with Japan based on the achievements of his predecessors.
“Relations between Taiwan and Japan have grown stably over the past eight years. My predecessors Lo [Fu-chen (羅福全)] and Ko made very impressive achievements and I will spare no effort [to promote relations between Taipei and Tokyo] based on those achievements,” he said.
Asked about his priorities after his assumes office, Feng said he would rather not discuss them, as “many things are better left unsaid in diplomacy.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS