Taiwan would never surrender in the face of intensifying pressure from a “more aggressive” Beijing, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday.
Beijing’s “attempts to erase the sovereignty of the Republic of China (Taiwan)” have threatened peace and stability across the region, Chiu said in a speech at a defense forum in Taipei.
Faced with the “unprecedented pressure, our determination to safeguard our sovereignty and democratic system has never been so strong. This is our bottom line,” he added.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“On this point, there is no room for compromise. We will never succumb to the saber rattling and intensifying pressure from China. Taiwan never surrenders,” Chiu said.
Chiu also warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) policy toward Taiwan would “only become more assertive and aggressive” as he hopes to achieve “national unification” with Taiwan.
“This ambition is no doubt the root cause of risks in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
China maintains a regular military presence around Taiwan, as well as the nearby South China Sea, as Beijing has increasingly pressed its territorial claims.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said 29 Chinese military aircraft, eight naval vessels and one official ship were detected around Taiwan in a 24-hour window ending at 6am.
Chiu reiterated that Taiwan is willing to talk with Beijing “without any political preconditions on the basis of mutual respect, dignity and equality.”
“We hope the leaders of the other side will display wisdom and flexibility toward a win-win future for both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Separately, the council on Wednesday denounced a claim made earlier that day by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office that Beijing only aims to punish “a very small minority of Taiwan independence diehards.”
“From the viewpoint of Beijing authorities, not endorsing ‘unification’ is ‘Taiwan independence,’” the MAC said in a statement.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) definitions in its regulations were “ambiguous” and “any Taiwanese person could be defined as breaking their law,” the statement said.
The MAC was referring to an official Web site set up last month by Chinese authorities that encouraged people to report “’Taiwan independence’ diehards” so that they can be “punished according to the law.”
“We call upon China to stop repeatedly intimidating and threatening the people of Taiwan, which harms the development of friendly cross-strait interactions,” the MAC said.
The statement came in response to remarks made by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua (陳斌華) at a news conference in Beijing earlier in the day.
“The Taiwan independence diehards with their vile, secessionist words and deeds, rampant independence-seeking activities, crimes of secession and inciting secession, do not target or involve the majority of Taiwan compatriots,” Chen said.
Beijing in June introduced new guidelines that threatened the death penalty for “Taiwanese independence diehards.”
“Beijing authorities have no jurisdiction over Taiwan,” the MAC in response said, adding that China’s “so-called laws and regulations have no binding force on our people.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS