A system to supply water to Kinmen from China’s Fujian Province is to begin operations today with two simultaneous ceremonies, following a national security official’s remarks yesterday that China is trying to split Taiwanese apart using carrot-and-stick tactics.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late last month asked the Kinmen County Government to delay its ceremony after Beijing pressured the East Asian Olympic Committee into revoking Taichung’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games next year.
The county government decided to hold the ceremony as scheduled, but said that it would tone down the event’s political effects by downgrading it to a “ritual.”
Photo: CNA
While the central government does not plan to send any officials to the event, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) is reportedly planning to attend the counterpart ceremony in Fujian’s Jinjiang, along with nearly 100 members of the Chinese media.
“Who needs a ceremony? Who needs propaganda? The answers to those questions are obvious,” a national security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity, adding that China surely timed the ceremony to fit in with its strategy to restrict Taiwan’s international space.
The ceremony is a good opportunity for Beijing to extend its goodwill to Taiwanese after it stripped Taichung of the right to host the Games, the official said.
Raising concern about Kinmen’s increasing reliance on China, the official suggested that more national security measures be implemented in the county.
Separately, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency said in a statement on Friday that the water supply system is a commercial arrangement between Kinmen and Jinjiang, and that staging a ceremony would not affect its operations.
The project was approved by the Executive Yuan in 2014, the agency said, adding that its underwater pipelines cost NT$1.35 billion (US$43.97 million), 85 percent of which was provided by the central government, while the county government paid for the remainder.
The contract between Kinmen County Waterworks and Fujian Water Supply Co stipulates that the county would purchase water at NT$9.86 per cubic meter, but it does not say anything about a ceremony, the agency said.
The council said that it shares the same stance as the county government regarding the water supply system, but it cannot accept Beijing’s “united front” tactics to split Taiwanese party.
To defend the nation’s interests and dignity, the county government should still postpone the ceremony, given that it is not directly related to the water supply, it added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to