Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday answered critics of his cross-strait initiative, which suggests Taiwan and China recognize each other’s constitutions, saying that the proposal was practical and was most likely to be accepted at home and in China.
The former Democratic Progressive Party chairman, currently on a trip to the US, has called for “constitutions with different interpretations” as the basis of promoting better ties between the DPP and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the initiative would not be accepted by Beijing because it underlines the different constitutions across the Taiwan Strait and implicates a “state-to-state relationship.”
“The most important thing for Taiwan is not for China to accept its position, but for China to recognize the differences across the Strait, then both sides would be able to facilitate dialogue based on that recognition,” Hsieh said in a press release issued by his office.
Beijing did not accept the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) initiative of “one China, with different interpretations” because the KMT’s definition of the Republic of China includes People’s Republic of China territory, but the KMT and the CCP are able to conduct dialogue, he said.
He also addressed former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen’s (姚嘉文) criticism of Hsieh’s comments that the DPP’s presidential candidates in 2004, 2008 and last year had not made independence the central theme of their campaigns. Yao said the those candidates lost because they did not highlight independence.
Hsieh said Yao’s argument was inconsistent with almost every post-election analysis and opinion poll. He reiterated that supporters of independence and the Republic of China system should be able to accept each other’s position and seek a consensus so that there would be stable cross-strait relations.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
RSS