Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) issued a veiled warning yesterday to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that landmark trade deals signed over the past few years were at risk if the DPP did not change its stance.
China has made little secret of its distaste for the DPP ahead of January’s presidential and legislative elections, even as DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the party’s presidential candidate, tries to lay out a more moderate line.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has signed a series of economic and tourist agreements with Beijing since becoming president in 2008.
Chen told the latest round of bilateral economic talks in Tianjin, China, that progress made so far should be preserved.
“A basic condition for having gone down today’s path of peaceful development is that both sides have established mutual trust on a joint political basis,” the China News Service quoted him as saying. “If this political basis is abandoned, not only will it be hard for cross-strait talks to continue, relations will also be seriously damaged and the results that have been attained will be lost.”
The Ma administration’s push for closer economic ties with China reached a milestone last year with the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) trade deal that cut import tariffs on about 800 items.
Cross-investment agreements for the financial and high-tech industries are also eyed further down the track.
The seventh round of high-level talks between Taiwan and China opened in Tianjin yesterday.
Chen and Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) were originally expected to sign an investment protection pact at the current round of talks, but because the two sides have failed to iron out long-standing differences on certain provisions of the agreement, only a nuclear safety pact was signed yesterday.
Xinhua news agency reported that the two sides agreed to cooperate on nuclear safety, promising to swiftly share details on accidents and to swap experiences on best practices, and the management and regulation of plants.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and it has also warned any attempt to formally announce independence would lead to war.
Chen said that the past three years “proved that peaceful development of cross-strait ties is the correct choice and ... what the people want.”
“We believe that compatriots on both sides of the Strait will cherish this hard-won situation, will maintain the basis of mutual trust and will chart a new course for the peaceful development of relations,” he said.
Tsai has said an administration led by her would pursue a “balanced, stable and moderate” policy toward China, shying away from the party’s previous strong anti-China words.
However, the Chinese government has repeatedly accused Tsai of still seeking Taiwan’s independence.
Additional reporting by CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by