As the security of the Taiwan Strait will be subsumed into the US-Japan joint pact and presented as a "common strategic objective" by the two powers, members of Taiwan Society North (TSN, 北社) yesterday said that this is the optimal time for Taiwan to voice its strong opposition to Beijing's planned anti-secession law. They also asked the pan-blue camp to declare its stance on Beijing's proposed legislation.
"It is absolutely favorable to Taiwan that the US government announced the inclusion of the security of the Taiwan Strait in the US-Japanese Security Alliance pact before China formally enacts the anti-secession law," TSN chairman Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民) said yesterday at a seminar held by the society on "what could Taiwan do to counter China's planned anti-secession law" at the National Taiwan University (NTU) Conference Center.
"Although the pact mainly focused on the interests of the US and Japan, it also aimed at warning China not to have its way with Taiwan and not to make the so-called anti-secession law arbitrary," Wu said.
"Taiwan should take advantage of this time to accentuate the gravity of Beijing's anti-secession law domestically and internationally to stop China legislating this law," Wu said.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a political analyst and assistant researcher of the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica, suggested that pro-independence groups like the TSN or the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) start with visiting Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is now campaigning for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship.
He also asked Ma to show his support for making a "anti-annexation law" to counter Beijing's legislation.
"It is almost certain that Ma will run for the presidency representing the KMT in 2008, and he might be happy to react to this demand by the pro-independence groups, because it could add some `local color' to his campaign, in a sense." Hsu said.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS