Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday defended his decision to visit China after the Taiwan Statebuilding Party protested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport upon his arrival a day earlier.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party said that Hsia’s 10-day trip was about “colluding with China to sell out Taiwan.”
“Throughout the trip, our delegation upheld the principles of mutual respect and equality in status in interactions with Chinese officials,” Hsia told reporters. “The public can see our party’s efforts to deal with China and the good results of maintaining peace, regional stability and economic prosperity.”
Photo: CNA
“We believe the trip has helped to reduce the tension across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“We achieved the three main goals of the trip: checking on the well-being of Taiwanese communities in China, reflecting public opinion in Taiwan and engaging with key Chinese officials responsible for Taiwan affairs,” he added.
After departing on Feb. 8, Hsia and the delegation were met by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and local authorities, including a Feb. 10 meeting in Beijing with Wang Huning (王滬寧), the Chinese politburo’s fourth-highest ranking member and deputy of China’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Chinese state media and foreign correspondents reported.
While in Beijing, Hsia also met with Song Tao (宋濤), director of the Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), and had separate talks with Yin Li (尹力), the CCP’s secretary for Beijing and a politburo member.
The five-member delegation also included Kao Su-po (高思博), KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) brother-in-law and others with links to the KMT chairman.
At the airport on Friday, Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) led party members in a protest against the trip, shouting slogans including: “Taiwan will be in grave danger if the KMT gains political power” and “shame on Hsia for selling out Taiwan to China.”
“China is the only country that has vowed to invade and annex Taiwan, yet KMT officials betray Taiwan by agreeing to engage with China under its ‘one country, two systems’ plan and the ‘one China principle,’” Wang said. “The KMT is the main collaborator helping China to breach the containment walls set up by the alliance of democracies to stop Chinese military expansionism.”
“The KMT is acting as an enemy of Taiwan and an enemy of the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Thinktank consultant Tung Li-wen (董立文) yesterday said that the visit was planned as a springboard to launch Chu’s bid to secure the KMT’s nomination for president in 2024.
It is important that Taiwanese know what deals Hsia and Wang Huning agreed to in Beijing, Tung said.
“Did Hsia agree to sacrifice Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, and reject the existence of a sovereign Taiwan?” he asked. “We must find out.”
Has the KMT agreed to unification with China in exchange for support in a Chu presidential run?” he asked.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS