Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (
Taiwan currently bans direct links -- namely transportation, mail and trade -- between China and Taiwan proper. Addressing her ministry's year-end press conference, Yeh said cross-strait aviation links would not be "domestic affairs," but a serious issue involving national sovereignty.
Yeh's remarks will most certainly be viewed as serious in Beijing where the Chinese authorities were whipped into a frenzy at the suggestion by former president Lee Teng-hui (
Official contact across the Strait went into a deep freeze immediately after Lee's comment, with Beijing insisting he withdraw the remark before communication could be resumed and threatening in early 2000 to attack Taiwan indefinitely delayed entering into talks on unification.
"Since China agreed that the `one China' principle can be interpreted differently by the two sides, cross-strait air links should also be defined differently, with Taiwan choosing to define them as `special state-to-state flights,'" Yeh said.
Beijing and Taipei should hold talks through negotiators from Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait on the opening of direct sea, air and postal links, Yeh said.
Yeh's remarks came in the wake of a statement made last Saturday by China's Transport Minister Hong Shanxiang (
Taiwan has said that it will open full direct links (
An initial step toward easing the ban on direct links was made on Jan. 1 when the ban on direct shipping and commercial exchanges between Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese coast were legalized.
China has agreed to facilitate the "small three links" but criticized the measure as "inadequate," and called instead for a comprehensive opening of direct links between Taiwan proper and China.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft