The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is looking forward to dialogue across the Taiwan Strait to avoid any misunderstandings and misjudgements in maintaining cross-strait peace, DPP spokeswoman Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) said yesterday.
The DPP remains committed to dealing with cross-strait issues and looks forward to conducting dialogue with China’s new leadership following the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress, Wu said.
The congress ended on Tuesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) emerging more powerful than ever after a leadership reshuffle and with no apparent successor.
In a speech at the congress, Xi maintained Beijing’s stance on Taiwan, opposing Taiwanese independence and saying that Taipei and Beijing can engage in dialogue if the “historical fact” that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “one China” is recognized, something the DPP has not been willing to do.
However, Wu told reporters after a meeting of the DPP Central Standing Committee that the party looks forward to engaging in dialogue with China’s new leaders to jointly protect peace in the Taiwan Strait.
The DPP believes that cross-strait politics should not infringe upon the welfare of Taiwanese and Chinese, and both sides should do their best to maintain cross-strait exchanges and other rights, including Taiwanese’s right to determine their own future, she said.
Emphasizing that Taiwan would not return to an age of resistance, Wu said that the DPP government would not cave under pressure from Beijing.
As this year marks the 30th anniversary of people-to-people exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, the DPP hopes that both sides will remember how far they have come on cross-strait relations and work together to preserve the peace, she added.
In 1987, Taipei lifted a ban on veterans visiting China, paving the way for decades of warmer ties across the Taiwan Strait.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but