The mass-circulation Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun urged China yesterday not to use Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) visit as a "political tool to divide Taiwan."
Instead, Beijing should use the historic meeting between Lien and President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the general-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as a "strategic tool to enter into peaceful dialogue with Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]," the daily said in an editorial.
If the KMT-CCP summit can develop into cross-strait dialogue -- that is, the resumption of bilateral talks that have been suspended since the DDP came to power, then this will create a "win-win" situation not only for both sides of the strait, but also for the US and Japan, the daily said.
The editorial said that Taiwan by no means has the capability to attack China and that it is China's "Anti-Secession" Law, which authorizes Beijing to use non-peaceful means to settle disputes with Taiwan, that has created tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
It is undeniable that China's "non-peaceful law" has invited world-wide condemnation, and so the best way to settle cross-strait disputes is for China to resume talks with Taiwan's ruling party, the editorial said.
Besides Lien, People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is also due to visit China. Indeed, there is public support for the opposition parties' visits, but for Beijing, the most significant visit would be one by the DDP, the paper said.
The editorial said China and Taiwan should shake off the "old pattern" of KMT-CCP dialogue and adopt a "new pattern" of formal dialogue between the two states.
The government is monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China, and it might enhance quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that rumors had circulated that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease spreading to Taiwan, given the volume of traffic between the two sides, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare had implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive
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RIGHT TO DIPLOMACY: Under the UN Charter, every state has the right to conduct foreign policy free from external pressure, Belize said in a statement Belize and Paraguay on Monday condemned Beijing sanctions over their countries’ ties with Taiwan, saying China’s actions create unnecessary tensions. Earlier on Monday, Beijing announced sanctions against Paraguayan Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Villate and Belizean Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca. The Paraguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejected the sanctions, writing on X that they created unnecessary friction. It added that it reaffirmed its support for Taiwan and its commitment to democratic values and principles. Villate told the Spanish-language Paraguayan daily ABC Color the sanctions were “predictable” and linked them to several cooperation projects between Taiwan and Paraguay. The projects
Sanctions imposed by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on a firm owned by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) father are an egregious attempt to pressure Taiwanese society and interfere with Taiwan’s democratic elections, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao (大公報) and Wen Wei Po (文匯報) on Tuesday reported that VWAY Co — a company owned by Shen’s father, Shen Tu-cheng (沈土城) — was still earning money in China after Sicuens International Co (兆億), also owned by Shen Tu-cheng, was sanctioned in June last year. VWAY trade totaled about US$700,000 in about 10 months
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