The government’s proposed establishment of representative offices on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is highly political and definitely concerns sovereignty, so the government should not proceed with it before a national consensus is reached, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in a statement on Saturday.
Tsai, a former Mainland Affairs Council minister, questioned whether there were political motives behind President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and China discussing opening representative offices on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Tsai said it would be impossible to avoid sovereignty issues in the negotiations on the proposal.
The government should not handle sovereignty issues with an ambiguous position and cause irreparable damage to Taiwan’s sovereignty, the former chairperson added.
She added that the proposal is highly political and the status of officials in China’s representative office in Taiwan would affect sovereignty and national security, meriting comprehensive evaluation and public debate.
Tsai said the Cabinet’s plan to offer immunity and privileges to China’s representative office would make it almost equal to the status of consulates under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and questioned whether Taiwan’s representative office in China would enjoy the same treatment.
Tsai called for the government to discuss the issue with opposition parties and the public.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved a draft bill governing the establishment of representative offices on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Under the bill, China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) branches in Taiwan and staff at the offices would be granted certain special rights to allow them to carry out their duties without legal interference.
Included in the special rights are provisions that no one can enter the branches without the permission of those offices; their property and assets would be immune from search, confiscation or expropriation; and documents and archives would be inviolable.
The bill stipulates that Chinese staff at the ARATS offices in Taiwan would enjoy immunity from Taiwan’s jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in the exercise of their duties, and would have certain tax exemptions and other privileges to be decided at the discretion of the Cabinet.
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