Taipei City Government’s working group on Chinese affairs is to be reorganized and made directly answerable to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), city officials said yesterday.
The city’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission chairman Chen Ming-shiun (陳銘薰) said that while the working group responsible for coordinating relations between the city and China was formerly subject to his commission, it would now report directly to the mayor.
The working group would meet next week to discuss policies and an action plan for relations with China, Ko said yesterday.
“I am opposed to secret envoys,” Ko said, adding that he hoped for an “open and transparent” dialogue with China.
Chen said the working group had mainly been responsible for organizing cross-strait events.
However, Ko said it would now serve as a “consultant” body to the city government on China policy.
Ko promised that the body would include a diverse array of figures from the pan-blue and pan-green camps, adding that former International Affairs Committee deputy director Jao Ching-yu (饒慶鈺) would head the group.
Taipei City Government spokesman Sydney Lin (林鶴明) said the group’s organization and membership would differ from that seen in former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration, with more details to be announced next week.
Ko’s comments follow a report on Web site Storm Media that group members would include noted cross-strait experts, including former Mainland Affairs Council chairmen Su Chi (蘇起) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chen Min-tong (陳明通) of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Ko’s China policy has attracted speculation that he might have a possible cross-strait role as an independent politician through the annual Taipei-Shanghai forum.
While Ko has called for an expansion of the forum to include other cities, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong (楊雄) has said the forum can be held only on the foundation of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Ko has not expressed agreement with the “1992 consensus,” instead saying that cross-strait ties should move forward on their existing foundation.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both Taiwan and China acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means. In 2006, Su said he "formulated" the term “1992 consensus” in 2000 when he was Mainland Affairs Council chairman.
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
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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
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