China has drafted three new policy guidelines for cross-Taiwan Strait engagements in the wake of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, according to a local media report.
One of the new strategies involves Beijing expanding its outreach to Taiwanese with different party affiliations and from all walks of life, as well as an effort to exert more influence over the Taiwanese news media and help China-based Taiwanese companies upgrade operations and resolve trade disputes, the Chinese-language United Daily News said.
Chinese officials in charge of cross-strait affairs have held several brainstorming sessions since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was re-elected to a second four-year term last month, a source familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
In addition to charting three new policy guidelines, Chinese officials have also begun to execute decisions reached at those meetings, the source said.
The visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), Beijing’s No. 2 cross-strait negotiator, which concluded on Thursday, was part of China’s new approach, the source said.
During his visit, Zheng, who is also deputy director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, traveled extensively in southern Taiwan, a DPP stronghold. While there he met with local farmers and aquaculture operators in an effort to forge relationships. According to the source, Zheng even stayed overnight at the homes of milkfish growers in Greater Tainan.
He also reached an agreement with Tainan milkfish farmers to form a joint venture company to handle fish farming in Taiwan and the sale of the fish in China, the source said.
Prior to his departure on Thursday, Zheng said his visit had been very fruitful, but he did not elaborate.
Other sources said that China’s new cross-strait action plan includes inviting Taiwanese to engage in “long stay” visits in China’s first-tier cities, living with selected Chinese families in an attempt to forge grassroots friendships.
The Chinese authorities will also continue to encourage Taiwanese to study and work in China.
In addition, the sources said that Beijing was not ruling out engaging with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) figures or other pro-independence supporters.
Political and military issues could also be placed on the agenda of future cross-strait talks, the sources said.
Most interesting is the suggestion that China has decided to enhance its direct and indirect influence on the news media in Taiwan, the sources said, adding that the decision is based on Beijing’s belief that the reporting of local media outlets have helped convince many Taiwanese to support the so-called “1992 consensus” for cross-strait cooperation.
The KMT defines the “1992 consensus” as an agreement according to which it interprets “one China” as the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, while Beijing defines it as the People’s Republic of China. The DPP says the “1992 consensus” does not exist.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its