New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday vowed that safeguarding the human rights of Taiwanese in China is to be central to his cross-strait policy platform.
In a presentation of his proposed cross-strait and national defense policies at his campaign headquarters in New Taipei City, Hou also pledged to pass a cross-strait agreement supervisory draft act within a year of his election.
In addition, he vowed to reactivate the dispute-settling mechanism under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and resume cross-strait exchanges in the private sector, as well as dialogue between Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government failed to protect Taiwanese in China due to a suspension of cross-strait dialogue and negotiation over practical affairs, Hou said.
Lack of communication between Taiwan and China has also made it difficult to control risks brought by a rise in “unprovoked military harassment” from China’s People’s Liberation Army, he added.
Meanwhile, the DPP government has made “practically zero” progress in terms of passing the cross-strait agreement supervisory draft act, Hou added.
“I would prevent Taiwanese in China from being interrogated, detained or harassed without legitimate reason through the communication mechanism between the SEF and ARATS. Cases of the personal freedoms of Taiwanese being restricted would be reported within 24 hours,” he said.
“In addition, ways to handle cases involving administrative detention would be added to the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement,” Hou said, adding that he would sign similar judicial mutual assistance agreements with other countries as well.
Hou further pledged that any agreement signed during his administration would be overseen by the legislature, the judicial system and a cross-strait youth affairs committee.
The committee would be formed by people aged between 18 and 40, whose input would be reflected in his administration’s cross-strait policy, he said.
Hou said that his administration would announce a national security strategy within 10 months should he assume office, which would be guided by the principle of “deterrence, dialogue and de-escalation.”
In addition to continuing efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, Hou said that he would engage in further trade negotiations with China after the cross-strait agreement supervisory draft act is passed.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its