The future of Taiwan is a decision to be made by its 23 million people, three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayors said yesterday in response to controversial comments made by a China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson.
Taipei City Mayor Hua Lung-bin (郝龍斌), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) were welcoming a planned visit to Taiwan by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍).
TAO spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) was reported to have said on Wednesday that the future of Taiwan “must be decided by all Chinese people, including Taiwanese compatriots.”
When asked to respond to the comment, Hau said that the future of Taiwan being decided by the 23 million Taiwanese is “as simple as it is” and “an indisputable fact.”
Zhang is scheduled to visit Taiwan on June 23, following a visit by Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) to China in February during which they met in Nanjing and Shanghai.
During his four-day stay, Zhang plans to visit Chu, Hu and Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), in addition to meeting Wang in New Taipei City.
Hau met with Zhang in July last year when he attended the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum.
Hau yesterday said that it seemed to him an “understandable arrangement” that Taipei was not on Zhang’s scheduled itinerary because Wang did not visit Beijing during his trip in February.
Zhang’s trip is being made “on the principle of reciprocity,” Hau said.
Asked separately by media about Fan’s remarks, Chu said yesterday: “The Republic of China [ROC] possesses sovereignty of Taiwan. Of course the future of Taiwan is up to the ROC’s citizens, the 23 million people in Taiwan.”
Organized in consultation with the MAC and the New Taipei City Council, Zhang’s itinerary has been planned to include visits to borough community centers, Aboriginal villages in Wulai District (烏來) and site tours of public infrastructure, Chu said.
Meanwhile, in Greater Taichung, Hu said yesterday that he welcomed a visit by Zhang.
People on both sides of the strait need to understand each other better, Hu said.
“I hope that Zhang can gain a better understanding of Taiwan [after the visit],” he said.
When questioned at a meeting of the council, by City Councilor Tsai Ya-ling (蔡雅玲) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and her party colleagues about the TAO’s comments, Hu said that he has repeatedly made his position clear that the future of Taiwan is in the hands of its 23 million people.
“I would not change my position,” Hu said.
Hu said he has considerable experience dealing with cross-strait affairs, adding that when it comes to issues in relation to sovereignty, he knows what to do to safeguard the sovereignty of the ROC and the dignity of Taiwanese.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS