Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) would lead a delegation to the Straits Forum in China this week, the party said yesterday.
Lin Kuan-yu (林寬裕), head of the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee, said the visit would follow Taiwan’s regulations governing people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The Straits Forum, an annual conference between Taiwan and China, started in 2009 to promote grassroots interactions, economic and trade exchanges, and cultural integration.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Hsia attended the meeting last year via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The KMT would participate in the forum in its capacity as a political party and a private organization to conduct exchanges between Taiwan and China in a bid to benefit people on both sides and help pursue peace, Lin said.
During the trip, Hsia would meet with Taiwanese living in China, including students and investors, and relay their opinions and concerns to Chinese agencies, Lin said.
Hsia is scheduled to depart for China on Friday and return to Taiwan on June 19 with his delegation, which includes representatives from the party’s China affairs division, think tanks and grassroots and youth divisions, the KMT said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on May 31 said that the forum is to open in China’s Fujian Province on Friday.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday said in a statement that while the government encourages exchanges between people in Taiwan and China in an appropriate and orderly manner, it opposes any political maneuvers and “united front” propaganda from China.
The Straits Forum is a “united front” platform that China uses to spread sentiment against Taiwanese independence and facilitate unification, the MAC said, adding that the government’s stance is not to allow Taiwan to jointly hold the forum and not to allow China to extend the forum’s activities to Taiwan.
Central government officials are barred from participating in the Straits Forum and the MAC would not be happy if local governments were to send anybody to the conference, it said.
Taiwanese are also not allowed to join any “democratic negotiations” with China or participate in “one country, two systems” activities, because it could damage Taiwan’s national security, it added.
The MAC urged Taiwanese to remain vigilant about their own safety while in China following the introduction in April of a revised counter-espionage law that means foreign visitors, including Taiwanese, could be arrested under the banner of protecting national security.
It also called for people in Taiwan to keep a close eye on China’s strategies that aim to polarize and infiltrate the nation, which would help safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty, and the values of freedom and democracy.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS