Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門).
Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday.
He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
Photo: Taipei Times
He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in Taiwan.
“Try it first and deal with the problems if they occur,” he said in response to national security concerns.
Independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟) accused Ko of speaking for China, which she said falsely claimed the Taiwan Strait as “China’s inner sea” on Thursday.
Ko’s idea could pose “serious threats to Taiwan regarding diplomacy and national security,” Lin said.
A national security official who wished to remain anonymous asked whether Ko’s proposal was made rashly without considering national security or was catering to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Kinmen would be completely subject to China if a bridge were built, as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could occupy Kinmen and put Taiwan in danger of being annexed, they said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) denounced the proposal as “giving Kinmen away to China,” while DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) asked: “Why does Ko want to risk everything by building a bridge to open up for an invasion by the PLA ?”
Cross-Strait Policy Association secretary-general Wang Chih-sheng (王智盛) said that Ko’s proposal was either ignorant or oblivious to national security issues, which showed that the TPP lacks a central idea regarding Taiwan’s value.
“If a war breaks out, the PLA could quickly advance into Kinmen, which is the first target, before China’s full military assault against Taiwan... Ko is offering the ‘Trojan Horse’ scheme for China to take over Kinmen,” Taiwan Statebuilding Party spokesman Chang Po-yang (張博洋) said.
Ko yesterday said the proposed bridge could benefit economic cooperation between Kinmen and Taiwan proper, as it would eliminate the need for Taiwan Power Co (台電) to allocate an annual subsidy of NT$2 billion (US$67.25 million) to transport fuel to Kinmen for power generation, adding that buying electricity from Xiamen could save NT$15 per kilowatt-hour.
The bridge could further facilitate the “small three links,” which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) touted when she headed the Mainland Affairs Council, he said.
The comment that a bridge would allow the PLA to easily launch an attack shows “a lack of backbone,” Ko said.
“Why haven’t they thought of it the other way around — that it would be easier for Taiwan’s military to reconquer mainland China?” he said.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS