President Chen Shui-bian (
While meeting with Gordon Chang, the Chinese-American writer of The Coming Collapse of China, Chen lambasted Lien's idea, which Lien floated on Sunday after the KMT selected him as its candidate for next year's presidential election.
Lien said that, if elected, he would make an immediate visit to China, dubbing the trip a "journey of peace."
He promised that he would push for the immediate opening of direct air links with China and sign agreements with Beijing so that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can live in peace.
The president was quick to pour cold water on Lien's plans yesterday.
"China has never acknowledged Taiwan's name and its nationhood. If a certain person [promises to] immediately deny [the existence of] our nation once he is elected as president, [I] don't believe this sort of person would be elected," Chen said.
Chen said the nation's leader could only visit China if he accepts the "one China" principle, which would also mean accepting Beijing's "one country, two systems" and agreeing that Taiwan is a Chinese province or a special administrative region like Hong Kong.
Chen said there would be no Republic of China (ROC) under this scheme and no ROC president.
Defending his plan, Lien urged the president to refrain from setting a bad example in the presidential campaign by using vicious language and encouraged Chen to be "broad-minded."
Chen also reminded voters of the brutal nature of the regime in Beijing.
He said the Chinese government has trampled on human rights by deliberately hiding the spread of a deadly illness and by forbidding the media to cover the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. (SARS).
Chang said Beijing has made a negative impression on the world with its handling of the outbreak, adding that the incident has reminded the international community that it is irrational to prevent Taiwan from joining international organizations due to pressure from China.
Chen said SARS knows no national boundaries.
"Taiwan's being excluded from the World Health Organization shows disregard for the interests of 23 million Taiwanese," he said.
The president also disagreed with statements by Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese academic, who predicted that China and Taiwan would form a "Chinese federation" as growing cross-strait integration gives way to political integration.
Chen said he is confident that the DPP will continue to rule after next March's presidential election and that political integration with China would not happen under a DPP administration.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS