The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday rejected Beijing’s criticism of the party’s “flattery of Japan” over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) dispute, saying that China’s provocative moves in the region are what should be condemned.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Fan Liqing (范麗青) on Tuesday said DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who is scheduled to return to Taiwan today after a five-day visit to Tokyo, displayed “a lack of national pride” with his “flattery” of Japan on the territorial issue.
“The DPP has its own views and assessment about Taiwan’s national strategic interests. While Taiwan and Japan both claim sovereignty [over the Diaoyutais], they also share the common interests of maintaining peace and stability in East Asia,” Su said in Japan.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
“The most urgent task at hand is how to secure fishing rights in the region, where Taiwanese have been fishing for hundreds of years,” Su added.
Su and the DPP delegation visited the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) think tank yesterday.
The DPP chairman urged both sides to resolve the issue of fishing rights in waters near the Diaoyutais as soon as possible through peaceful dialogue and again highlighted the friendship between people in the two countries.
DPP headquarters offered a more straightforward counterattack to China’s criticsm, with spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) saying that the DPP has always called for resolving the dispute through bilateral negotiations and that the party “opposes China’s intentional provocation in waters around the Diaoyutais, which are known as the Senkakus in Japan.”
Beijing’s provocation has created tension and instability in the region, he said, adding that Taiwanese would not accept Beijing’s attack on the DPP.
China has no grounds to comment on Taiwan’s affairs when it oppresses Taiwan’s international space, threatens to take Taiwan by military force and has more than 1,000 ballistic missile aimed at Taiwan, Lin said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS