Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) highlighted the “one China” framework and the urgency of resolving the cross-strait political division so it would not be “passed on from generation to generation” in his meeting with former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday in Bali, Indonesia, ahead of the annual APEC summit.
“The longstanding political division between the two sides will have to be eventually resolved step-by-step as it should not be passed on generation after generation ... We have reiterated that we are willing to engage in reciprocal negotiations on bilateral political issues with Taiwan under the ‘one China’ framework,” Xi was quoted as saying in a 30-minute closed-door meeting with Siew.
Taiwan and China should insist on walking the right path of peaceful development of cross-strait relations and advocate the concept that “both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are of one family,” Xi added.
Photo: CNA
Siew — who represented President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in his capacity as chairman of the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation in the meeting, held before the two-day official leaders’ summit begins today — and Xi referred to each other as “Mister” rather than by any official title in their opening remarks, the only part of their meeting that was open to the media.
Siew underlined the so-called “1992 consensus” as the foundation of bilateral negotiations in the past five years since Ma took office and called for strengthening and deepening cross-strait engagement, including institutionalized economic cooperation and participation in regional economic integration, according to a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) press release issued yesterday afternoon.
Separately yesterday, MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and his Chinese counterpart, Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), addressed each other by their official titles in a meeting that took place on the APEC sidelines.
The council has never sent its minister to the annual summit and has been an invisible presence in past summits as it only dealt with preparatory works.
Wang and Zhang briefly interacted at the hotel lobby where the meeting was held and greeted each other by their official titles of minister and director.
Both Wang and Zhang called for the establishment of a regular dialogue mechanism between their two agencies to enhance mutual understanding and facilitate cross-strait engagement.
Zhang invited Wang to visit China, adding that he would be more than pleased to make a visit to Taiwan “if given a chance.”
“As those responsible for cross-strait relations, we should increase interaction to boost mutual understanding and promote bilateral ties,” Zhang said.
When people on both sides of the Strait are visiting each other so frequently, “it does not seem right” that the two top officials in charge of cross-strait affairs do not see each other, Zhang said.
“It would be fruitful for us to keep up with the popular trend,” he added.
Wang echoed the sentiment, saying that Taiwanese lawmakers’ delay in approving a cross-strait service trade pact indicates that there are many outstanding bilateral issues that need to be addressed.
The MAC said in a statement later yesterday that Wang and Chang’s addressing each other by their official titles “marked a good beginning for bilateral official engagement.”
“It was a practice of both sides’ pragmatism and mutual non-denial,” the statement said.
However, China’s Xinhua news agency still referred to Wang as “Taiwan’s official responsible for Mainland affairs” on its Web site yesterday.
The Presidential Office did not respond to Xi’s remarks.
Additional reporting by Peng Hsien-chun and CNA
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS