Saying that Taiwan is now faced with a “crisis” because of regression in its economy, democracy and sovereignty, a group of pro-localization organizations yesterday said they would start a nationwide tour to “wake up the public’s sense of crisis.”
“As the result of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] ‘absolute power and absolute out-of-control’ governance, Taiwan is now faced with a crisis of regression,” Michelle Wang (王美琇), deputy secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society, told a press conference in Taipei yesterday. “Only by building public consensus can there be enough power to turn Taiwan’s crisis around.”
‘THREE BIG LINKS’
Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), Taiwan Society secretary-general, said the groups would hold a series of speeches around the country, “and let the public know that the nation’s sovereignty and security are now at risk and call on people to be aware of how the three direct links are impacting Taiwan.”
Last Monday, Taiwan and China started daily direct passenger flights, direct cargo flights and direct shipping links, also known as the “three big links.”
On direct air links, Luo said that direct flights to Beijing were considered domestic routes, but the KMT government cheated people by saying that it was a “special route.”
POSTAL LINKS
Regarding to the direct postal service, Lo said that in the past, mail going to any place outside Taiwan was categorized as international mail.
“But currently mail going to China is marked as ‘international [regional],’ which is to say Taiwan is an area of China,” he said, referring to Chunghwa Post Co’s (中華郵政) move to change the name of its international express mail service for deliveries to China to “international [regional] express mail service.”
Lo also warned of diseases and substandard food products that could pose a greater risk without strict control mechanisms under the new links.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but