New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) yesterday said the party will continue to advocate peaceful unification with China, adding that signing a peace treaty with China would be one of its campaign promises for the 2020 presidential and legislative elections.
Yok made the remarks at a ceremony in Taipei marking the 24th anniversary of the party’s establishment.
The party’s 99-year-old spiritual leader, former army general Hsu Li-nung (許歷農), Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), Taipei City Council Speaker Wu Pi-chu (吳碧珠) and Chinese Union Promotion Party founder and Chairman Chang “White Wolf” An-le (張安樂) also attended the ceremony.
The party announced that it has officially split with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would position itself as a uniting force for all political groups advocating peaceful unification with China and opposing Taiwanese independence.
“The KMT said it will not unite with China, we say we want unification. This is one of the fundamental differences between the two parties,” Yok said.
“Suppose that the KMT keeps failing to have a concrete goal, then we would have to walk our own path, which is to march toward a peaceful unification with China and reinvigorate China as a strong nation. The KMT has apparently given up this mission. The New Party is willing to take over that responsibility,” he said.
Yok said the two parties differ on the issue of unifying with China.
“However, the KMT opposes Taiwanese independence, we can perhaps work with each other on this basis,” he said.
The party would host a pro-unification rally to combine all forces, Yok said.
Yok said signing a peace treaty with China would be among the party’s campaign promises in the 2020 elections.
“Signing a peace agreement with China would help Taiwan avoid a war and save the nation billions of dollars in purchasing defensive weapons. That money can be used toward social welfare and other expenditures,” he said, adding that such an agreement would also boost Taiwan’s economic development.
The party would propose amending the Regulations Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the People of the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), so that people across the Taiwan Strait would have closer exchanges in the economic realm and all aspects of life, he said.
The spirit of the Republic of China is long gone, Yok said, adding that the term “Republic of China” is now used by both KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party as a nominal term.
The New Party is the true bearer of the torch handed down by former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and the party carries on with the same spirit Chiang did in the KMT, he said.
New Party Deputy Chairman Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰) said the party’s goal of unifying with China and protecting the interests of Taiwan cannot be accomplished simply by doing whatever Beijing says.
Lee said the party would run in the elections next year and 2020.
“We will not skip the Taipei mayoral election next year and might participate in the New Taipei City mayoral election as well,” he said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS