The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday confirmed that party chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) met with former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟) on Wednesday and promised to seek closer relations with China.
Wu met with the two Singaporeans during his trip to Southeast Asia to discuss the global financial crisis and the economic situation in the region, the KMT confirmed in a press release after major Singaporean newspapers had reported on the meeting.
During the meeting, Lee reiterated Singapore’s support of the “one China” policy and called on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to continue improving cross-strait relations as it would benefit the region as a whole.
Goh joined Lee in welcoming the Ma administration’s efforts to seek closer ties with China and said he expected Taipei and Beijing to hold more talks in the future.
As the ruling party, Wu said the KMT had reached a consensus with China to put aside political controversy and focus on efforts to push for peaceful development and economic cooperation across the Taiwan Strait.
The KMT chairman also met with overseas Taiwanese groups during his trip and said they should feel free to develop relations with Chinese groups in Singapore, as the two sides of the Strait are seeking peaceful relations.
Wu visited Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia during the nine-day trip to discuss the development of bilateral or multilateral economic relations and returned late on Wednesday night.
Summing up his trip upon his return, Wu said it remained difficult for Taiwan to sign free trade agreements with nations in Southeast Asia and so the government should seek to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement with China first.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS