The office of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday denied a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker’s comment that Tsai will visit China next month, saying that the speculation was “baseless.”
In a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday, KMT lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), a confidant of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), said Tsai’s visit to Beijing, scheduled for the middle of next month, had been approved by Chinese officials.
Tsai’s office immediately issued a statement to refute that claim.
“There are no plans for such a visit. The KMT should not have used the false claim to shift the focus away from the current political strife as Ma should apologize to the people of Taiwan for the constitutional crisis he has created,” the statement said.
Wu said Tsai had contacted Beijing via a senior democracy advocate and received approval from the Chinese, but pushed back the plan to attend a seminar with the theme of economic affairs as an economist from about Oct. 10 to next month.
Politicians who are close to Tsai criticized Wu for making the comment, with DPP lawmaker Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) saying that while Beijing had increased its contact with green camp politicians, Tsai has taken her time in arranging a visit to China.
“So far, there is no substantial plan and the office has not received any invitation [from Beijing],” Chen said.
The DPP’s New Taipei City (新北市) Chapter Director Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), said that the “time is not ripe” for Tsai to visit China at this moment and that there could be a hidden agenda behind Wu’s comment.
“I suspect that Wu was trying to shift the focus away from Ma’s poor governance and to create tension between Tsai and DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌),” Lo 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
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
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
RSS