In a rare move, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government refused to allow entry to Chinese officials — Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Vice Chairman Wang Zaixi (王在希) and his entourage — on the grounds that the stated reason and timing for their visits were inappropriate.
Sources said Wang had planned to attend the Taipei Forum on Friday and Saturday as the head of a group of 30 Chinese officials.
Because the forum’s stated purpose was “discussing how to stabilize peaceful cross-strait relations through the development of mutual trust” and to potentially accelerate political dialogue across the Taiwan Strait, sources said the Chinese participants were refused visas because it would take the focus away from economic issues to be discussed in upcoming bilateral talks.
The forum could have a negative impact on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) policy of “economics first, politics later,” the source said, suggesting that the National Immigration Agency had probably received instructions from higher up.
The eighth round of economy-centric cross-strait talks between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Ping-kung (江丙坤) and ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) would clash with the politically sensitive Taipei forum, the source said, adding that the forum planned for this week has been canceled.
National Taiwan University professor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) organized the forum, which invited representatives of almost all major think tanks across the Taiwan Strait.
Invitees included Chinese representatives from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Chunghua Culture Promotion Society and the Center for Studies on Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwanese representatives from the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies, the 21st Century Foundation, the Taiwanese Political Science Association, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the World Leadership Education Foundation.
Because several of the think tanks invited to the forum serve a dual purpose as peripheral organizations to the governments in Taiwan and China, the forum sparked speculation as to its potential ramifications for cross-strait politics.
Besides Wang’s affiliation with the People’s Liberation Army, other members of the Chinese delegation, including Yu Keli (余克禮), who is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, were members of renowned Chinese think tanks.
The Chinese delegation had originally included Huang Jiashu (黃嘉樹), secretary-general of the National Society of Taiwan Studies, Yen Chun (嚴峻), deputy dean of Tsinghua University’s law school in Beijing and Yen Anlin (嚴安林), assistant to the director of Xiamen University’s Taiwan Affairs Research Center and Li Peng (李鵬), a person with the same name as the former Chinese premier.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS