Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said he would submit a proposal for the establishment of a DPP China affairs department at a party meeting on Wednesday, but party heavyweights said the DPP should solidify its cross-strait position before the department is set up.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) told reporters in Taipei yesterday that he and Su both think it is the right time to set up the department since the Chinese Communist Party has concluded its18th Party Congress and ushered in its new leadership.
However, Hsieh said he expected the DPP to form a clear position on cross-strait relations before the proposed body becomes operational.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The party plans to deal with the motion to establish the department at its Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Hsieh said the validity of his “constitutional one China” (憲法一中) framework and how the party interprets its 1999 resolution on Taiwan’s future should be discussed in the meeting.
The former premier added that the “one China” in his framework is the Republic of China (ROC).
He said the party’s 1999 resolution on Taiwan’s future stipulates that the DPP unilaterally opposes the “one China” principle championed by Beijing, but at the same time recognizes the ROC.
Those interpretations need to be further be integrated and a consensus on the DPP’s cross-strait position formed, he added.
Asked whether he had been told by Su to lead the proposed department, Hsieh said Su had not discussed the issue with him.
Meanwhile, Alex Huang (黃重諺), a spokesman for former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office, said that Tsai agreed with Hsieh and Su the party should integrate the opinions of its members on Taiwan-China relations before the department is established.
DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said the department would surely invite Hsieh and Tsai to join its operations, but Su has not formally invited anyone to lead the department.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS