On the eve of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) reminded Lien and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) that only the government has the right to negotiate with the Chinese authorities.
Wu said that according to the law, political parties cannot sign agreements of any form with China.
"It is also improper for them to reach verbal deals with China," he warned. "They may break the law if they do so."
Political parties, Wu explained, are different from civic groups in nature; therefore, their leaders' trips to China are not the same as exchanges between unofficial groups from China and Taiwan.
Political parties should keep their activities within acceptable boundaries and understand what their responsibilities are to the nation and the Taiwanese people.
"They are not only responsible for their party members or their own personal status in history," Wu added.
In the "Anti-Secession" Law that it enacted last month, Beijing lowered the status of Taiwan to that of a local government and authorized the use of "non-peaceful" means against Taiwan's 23 million people, Wu said.
He urged Lien and Soong to inform the Chinese authorities of true feelings of the Taiwanese people, who "strongly oppose China's passage of the Anti-Secession Law."
A number of polls have proven that dislike of the Chinese law is widespread among the Taiwanese people, Wu said.
The two chairmen, Wu added, should remind Beijing that the Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign country and that different governments control the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
"Only Taiwan's 23 million people have the rights to decide any change of the future of the ROC. [The chairmen] should make these points clear to the Chinese leaders. This is their responsibility as leaders of political parties," Wu said.
He repeated that the government wants to normalize cross-strait exchanges in order to increase mutual understanding between the two sides.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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