Taiwan and China cannot put off addressing their political differences for the long term, Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said on Friday, adding that sidestepping politics in favor of economic talks was “unsustainable.”
Zhang said that Beijing “has the necessary patience, as well as the strong determination” to bring about Taiwan’s unification with China.
“But that does not mean waiting passively without doing anything,” he said.
Zhang made the comments in a keynote speech at the opening of the first Cross-Strait Peace Forum held in Shanghai, where he called for breakthroughs on “outstanding issues which prevent and restrict cross-strait relations from making further progress.”
He called the forum part of an effort to overcome the obstacles to making greater progress in cross-strait relations.
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement later on Friday denying Chang’s contention that Taiwan has sidestepped political issues in favor of economic issues.
Some of the cross-strait agreements that have been forged in the past few years had political aspects, which Taiwan’s government did not shy away from but handled in a pragmatic manner, the council said.
The government believes that “as long as there are urgent issues concerning the interests of people on the two sides, it must deal with them pragmatically,” the council said. “There is no such sidestepping of politics in favor of economics.”
Citing the ongoing cross-strait talks on the establishment of representative offices on either side as an example, the council said that the issues involved in the talks are very complicated, and some of them are politically sensitive.
The two-day forum in Shanghai focuses on four topics: the cross-strait political relationship; China and Taiwan’s external relations, security and mutual confidence; and a framework for peace.
Backing the event are Taiwan’s 21st Century Foundation, the Institute for National Policy Research, and Taiwan Brain Trust, while the Chinese organizers include the National Society of Taiwan Studies, six research institutes at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and universities in Beijing and Xiamen.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS