One of two planned trial voyages to test the "small three links" has been cancelled, a KMT lawmaker said yesterday.
Chen Ken-teh (
The lawmaker said that Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐), secretary-general of the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), called him on Tuesday to say that MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had ordered preparations for the trip halted.
"I don't know what Tsai's motive is. Does this indicate there was a U-turn in our policy? We've discussed this plan for weeks," Chen said.
Chen said Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Taiwan announced on Dec. 13 plans to open direct postal, transportation and trade links between the outlying island groups of Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖) and China's Xiamen (廈門) and Fuzhou (福州) cities beginning on Jan. 1. Because, Beijing has offered little response to the proposal so far, however, two groups of lawmakers proposed trial voyages to ease public concern about unpredictable responses from China resulting from Taiwan's decision.
Both groups are set to depart on Dec. 28. A group led by KMT lawmaker Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶), who has directly contacted Xiamen authorities, appears to be encountering less obstacles. By comparison, the trip organized by Chen Ken-teh, a member of the legislature's Committee of Transportation and Communications, stalled because Chen sought assistance from the SEF, Taiwan's semi-official mechanism to deal with cross-strait relations.
Shi Hwei-yow told the Taipei Times that Tsai had indeed made the phone call to tell him to put Chen's documents aside temporarily, and that he could not send the relevant papers to China without an approval from MAC.
But MAC said in a press conference yesterday evening that there was a misunderstanding, adding that the documents requested were ready. MAC officials also said they would notify the SEF right away to contact the Chinese government if Chen still plans to make the trip.
"How can I have enough time to prepare for the necessary papers now that Tsai has delayed my plan? I just don't understand why she made that phone call to Shi Hwei-yow, telling him to discontinue the proceeding," he said.
BUSY DAY: After he met with the president and signed an economic development deal, the governor said it was ‘incredibly important that Texas shows solidarity with Taiwan’ Visiting Texas Governor Greg Abbott yesterday announced the opening of a state trade office in downtown Taipei to enhance cooperation and show that “Texas stands with Taiwan.” The State of Texas Taiwan Office is the second foreign office Texas has opened in the 21st century after Mexico, Abbott told a news conference in Taipei. “It shows that other than our geographic neighbor, Texas understands the importance of establishing an office in the country of Taiwan,” he said. “It is incredibly important that Texas shows solidarity with Taiwan, not just for the businesses of Taiwan and Texas — it is important for the entire
DISINFORMATION: Government agencies should be ready to clarify misinformation on Douyin and Xiaohongshu, as they have a large user base in Taiwan, the bureau said More Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong or Macau have been detained or faced trials since Beijing implemented the Anti-Espionage Law and Law on Guarding State Secrets, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Since July last year, 15 Taiwanese have been detained or undergone trials after entering China and the two special administrative regions, while 51 have been interrogated by border officers, Tsai said, adding that the number of cases is increasing. “We respect the Mainland Affairs Council’s decision to raise the travel alert for China from ‘yellow’ to ‘orange,’ meaning that people should avoid non-essential travel.
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
NOT ENOUGH: Although the US is to deliver Switchblade 300s and Altius 600M-Vs to Taiwan, military leaders believe the nation needs more attack drones, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has included the funding needed to mass-produce Type-1 and Type-2 suicide drones in next year’s budget plan, a military source said yesterday. Although the US government last month approved sales of Switchblade 300 loitering munitions and Altius 600M-V uncrewed aerial vehicles to Taiwan, which are scheduled for delivery between this year and the next, military leaders assessed that Taiwan would still have an inadequate number of attack drones to bolster national defense, the source said, asking to remain anonymous. Taiwan needs to mass produce locally made attack drones, including Type-1 and Type-2 suicide drones, they