Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator-at-large Julian Kuo (郭正亮) took his oath of office yesterday, replacing Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who vacated his legislative seat to head the Committee of Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement, which was officially launched on Wednesday.
The DPP’s selection of Kuo has met with strong opposition from anti-drunk driving groups, because Kuo was caught driving under the influence in February.
Kuo said after the swearing-in ceremony that he would honor a promise he made before taking the job, which is to promote anti-drunk driving legislation.
He said he would continue to communicate with anti-drunk driving groups, who have said they would stage a sit-in in front of DPP headquarters in Taipei once Kuo assumed his seat.
Asked about the recent appointment of Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) to head the Straits Exchange Foundation, Kuo said he had known Tien for many years, adding that Tien has a good working knowledge on China and has a good understanding of cross-strait affairs and the US.
“[Tien], I believe, is therefore a fitting choice to facilitate [cross-strait] communication, but frankly I think the ball is in China’s hands,” he said, especially now that Beijing has little room for maneuver before the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I also believe that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has made the greatest concession possible in her inaugural speech, in which both the Republic of China Constitution and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) were mentioned,” said Kuo, whose cross-strait stance has long been considered more pro-China than the DPP in general.
“It is up to China to decide how to interpret it,” he said.
Kuo said Tsai has shown that she is determined to maintain the status quo, and while their views might differ, there is certainly room for the DPP and the CCP to come up with a different cross-strait narrative.
“I do maintain certain viewpoints concerning cross-strait economic exchanges and trade that are not exactly in line with other [DPP members], but I do not think of them as being that different,” he said, when asked about his “pro-China” stance.
“President Tsai has also said that as long as it does not touch on the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus,’ negotiations over the cross-strait trade in goods and service trade agreements could continue,” Kuo said. “After all, China is part of the global market, so I consider it reasonable to uphold a view that calls for cross-strait negotiations over a workable economic model that [also puts emphasis on fair] distribution.”
Kuo said he would follow the party line when it comes to voting in the legislature, while trying to iron out the differences before the vote if there are differences in their cross-strait policy stance.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS