Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
"We didn't talk about cross-strait relations, as I mentioned earlier during Sunday's press conference," Lee, who was President Chen Shui-bian's (
"It's not surprising and one shouldn't feel strange that China has mentioned the `one China' principle, because they do it all the time," Lee said.
"I remember when I met with former Chinese leader Jiang Zhemin (
Lee made the remarks Monday morning in response to inquiries by Taiwanese media about the Chinese foreign ministry's claim that Hu had discussed cross-strait relations with Lee during the APEC leaders' meeting and that Hu reiterated the "one China" policy during their brief exchange.
"I wonder if the Chinese side would say that our conversation [between Lee and Hu] was based on the `one China' principle," Lee said.
Lee spent Monday engaged in personal affairs, including delivering a speech at the Institution of Chile and visiting an association of overseas Taiwanese.
Lee was scheduled to leave for Taiwan yesterday.
In his speech, entitled "Meeting the challenges of the 21st century -- a scientist's view," Lee outlined the difficulties created and faced by mankind over the past century and called for a sustainable way of development.
Human society underwent drastic changes some 250 years ago after James Watt invented the steam engine, marking the beginning of the industrial revolution, Lee noted.
Two unfortunate facts result from the industrial revolution: irresponsible increase of energy consumption and uneven development of the human world, Lee said.
"Humanity is at the crossroads as the planet is limited in space, capacity and natural resources," he said.
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
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