Taiwan yesterday condemned what it said were “fallacious comments” by China following the nation’s presidential and legislative elections the previous day.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) used falsehoods in the statements they issued on Saturday night after the results of the election were announced.
It took issue specifically with China’s often-repeated line that Taiwan is a domestic Chinese issue.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
The Chinese ministry said in its statement that “the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair. Whatever changes take place in Taiwan, the basic fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China will not change.”
That statement “is completely inconsistent with international understanding and the current cross-strait situation. It goes against the expectation of global democratic communities and goes against the will of the people of Taiwan to uphold democratic values,” the Taiwanese statement said. “Such cliches are not worth refuting.”
Saturday’s elections saw William Lai (賴清德) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) win a three-way race for president with 40.05 percent of the vote, less than the clear majority President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won in 2020. The DPP lost its majority in the legislature, finishing with one seat fewer than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Neither party holds a majority, giving the Taiwan People’s Party — a relatively new force that won eight of the 113 seats — a possible swing vote on legislation.
The statement from the TAO said the results showed that the DPP does not represent mainstream public opinion in Taiwan.
“Our stance on resolving the Taiwan question and realizing national reunification remains consistent, and our determination is rock solid,” TAO spokesperson Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said in a written statement.
In Taipei, MOFA called on China “to respect the election results.”
“China must face up to reality and abandon its efforts to pressure Taiwan” if the sides are to resume positive interactions and for cross-strait relations to return to the right track, it added.
In a press statement issued late on Saturday night, the Mainland Affairs Council also urged Beijing to “fully respect the election results and Taiwan’s public opinion,” and “rationally assess” the post-election situation.
The elections once again showcased “the unwavering determination of the people of Taiwan to safeguard the values of freedom and democracy without fearing pressure from a strong power,” the council said.
Additional reporting by CNA
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS