Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that if elected president, he would promote foreign policy aimed at bringing substantial improvements to the nation’s economy, instead of policy aimed at “saving face.”
During his weekly Facebook livestream, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate criticized President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for her “shockingly strong” attitude on diplomatic issues, which he said has yielded laughable results.
Over the past three years, the Tsai administration has lost five diplomatic allies, and rumors suggest that the Solomon Islands could be next, he said.
Photo copied by Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, seven of the nation’s representative offices abroad have been renamed or downgraded, he said.
Tsai’s foreign policy has led the nation on an “increasingly narrow and dangerous path,” he said.
“Currently, what is more important for Taiwan? Saving face or making substantial improvements?” he asked.
As president, he would promote foreign policy that focuses on trade and brings substantial improvements to the nation, he said.
His foreign policy would consist of three aspects: protecting local businesses, offering international medical assistance and providing a platform for young people, he said.
One of the ways Han would help Taiwanese companies would be to assign diplomats stationed abroad the additional role of being a promoter for Taiwan’s businesses and products, said Dale Jieh (介文汲), Han’s policy adviser and a former diplomat.
There are more than 100 Taiwanese diplomats stationed abroad with the experience, knowledge and connections to promote Taiwan’s products, he said, adding that the government only needs to provide them with more resources and objectives.
In addition to promoting Taiwan’s products, the diplomats could also help bring investors and technologies to Taiwan, Jieh said.
Han would also promote plans to offer assistance to other nations to improve their healthcare infrastructure, he said, adding that Taiwan has a leading healthcare industry.
As president, Han would also provide more support to international volunteer programs and international competitions for young people, Han’s campaign office said.
Han’s diplomatic strategy is in line with the mainstream approach in diplomacy worldwide, Jieh said.
“Foreign policy must be practical and realistic, rather than ideological,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials responded to criticism of the government’s foreign affairs policies after Han’s office said that the “abnormal cross-strait relations” since the DPP assumed power in 2016 were to blame for the arrest of Taiwanese by Chinese authorities.
DPP spokeswoman Hsueh Cheng-yi (薛呈懿) said that cross-strait relations with China “can only be built upon a foundation of democratic values, freedom, due process of law and human rights, to able to protect the lives of Taiwan’s citizens.”
“Han always blames the DPP for problems ... in dealing with China. This only highlights Han’s shallow understanding and his own abnormal concepts about the very complicated issues surrounding cross-strait relations,” Hsueh said.
From 2008 to 2016 when the KMT was in power, more than 600 Taiwanese were arrested by the Chinese government, he said.
According to Han’s logic, it could be said that former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) tenure was also a period of abnormal cross-strait relations, Hsueh said.
“Starting in May 2016, Beijing used political issues as reasons to cut off meaningful dialogue and communication with Taiwan, and ravaged existing cross-strait agreements,” Hsueh said. “It is China who ignored and damaged the rights of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
“Instead of pointing to China as an unprincipled, untrustworthy regime, which undermined agreements, and arrest our citizens arbitrarily, Han turns the blame on our government, which is incomprehensible to us,” Hsueh said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS