Viewing both sides of the Taiwan Strait as family is better than viewing them as enemies, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, after the city’s Mainland Affairs Committee held its first meeting on Thursday night.
Although the committee’s members span the political spectrum, they had arrived at a consensus on the “premise” of any cross-city talks involving China, Ko said.
“The premise [of cross-city talks] is mutual love, trust and understanding,” Ko said. “Mutual love is viewing both sides [of the Taiwan Strait] as a ‘close family’ — a ‘close family’ is better than a ‘family of enemies.’”
The mayor’s reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) buzz phrase — “viewing both sides of the Strait as a close family” — is being interpreted as a friendly gesture to the Chinese government.
Xi has used the phrase to describe his vision for cross-strait ties in lieu of Beijing’s traditional terms such as “peaceful reunification” and “one country, two systems.”
Ko’s remarks come amid uncertainty over the future of the annual Taipei-Shanghai forums, which began in 2010.
Ko’s role in directing the forum has attracted interest over whether he, as an independent, will have more leeway in taking a position on the so-called “1992 consensus” that Beijing insists must be the premise of cross-strait talks, than someone from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have.
Ko has thus far avoided taking a position on the “consensus,” which refers to a supposed understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
Ko said the committee also agreed that there should be broader civic participation in cross-city talks, instead of just the business and corporate leaders who have been invited to past forums.
The mayor has previously also called for the forum to be expanded to include other cities.
Ko said that the objective of any talks would be to “further dialogue and increase goodwill”, while reiterating that they would need to be in accordance with his principle of “four mutuals:” mutual knowing, understanding, respecting and cooperating.
The city’s Mainland Affairs Committee is directly below the mayor’s office.
Half of its membership is from outside the city government, including former Mainland Affairs Council minister Chen Min-tong (陳明通), a DPP member, and Shanghai Taiwan Investors Association director Hector Yeh (葉惠德).
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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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