The relationship between Taiwan and China is one of “two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday, adding that the media took comments he made earlier out of context by reporting that he called the two sides of the Taiwan Strait “two countries.”
Liang made the response to lawmakers following criticism over the comment he made during a radio interview on Monday last week in which he said the “two sides of the Taiwan Strait” and “the Republic of China (ROC) and People’s Republic of China (PRC)” mean the same thing.
In that comment, he was clarifying an earlier statement made by President William Lai (賴清德) that the ROC and PRC are not subordinate to each other.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
During a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Yi-chuan (林憶君) asked Liang to clarify his comment that “two sides of the Strait” and “two countries” are the same, adding that it would be “ridiculous” to not treat the PRC like a country.
Liang said the radio interview was a discussion, and the media took his response out of context to make it “not quite accurate.”
When discussing the practical relationship between the two sides, Liang said he brought up the example of needing an ROC ID to qualify for National Health Insurance, so citizens of the PRC cannot apply.
The MAC was founded in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Liang said.
Therefore, “strictly speaking, it is necessary to talk about the relationship between the Taiwan area and the mainland area, but customary to say the ‘two sides of the Strait,’” he said.
TPP Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) asked if this meant he would rescind his “two countries” comment in favor of “two sides of the Strait.”
Liang replied that it was “of course” two sides of the Strait, adding that the “two countries” comment was made by the host of the radio program, not him.
In the interview, the host said that according to the Constitution, it is “two sides of the Strait,” but practically, it is “two countries.”
Liang in response said that is “in essence how it is.”
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS