The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (
Wu also slammed Lien for criticizing Taiwan's democracy during the Beijing leg of his tour.
At a press conference last night, council Chairman Joseph Wu (
"We aren't fully aware of what Lien talked about with Hu in their meeting. But it seems that the KMT might have violated the law. We have to discuss with appropriate government agencies whether the KMT-China negotiations are illegal," Wu said.
During Lien's telephone call with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) before his departure, Lien was asked not to raise issues with the Chinese that lacked consensus in Taiwan. But Lien went ahead and talked about the contentious "1992 consensus" between Taiwan and China in his meeting with Hu.
"There is a great discrepancy between what we expected Lien to say and what he actually said in Beijing," Wu said.
Lien failed to persuade Beijing to remove its missiles targeted at Taiwan and did not get China to agree to give Taiwan more room to participate in international organizations, he said.
As for People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (
"The political parties should view the interests of the nation as their highest concern," Wu said.
Wu blasted Lien for criticizing Taiwan's democracy in China, an undemocratic country ruled by an authoritarian regime.
"In the land of the authoritarian, undemocratic People's Republic of China, Lien attacked Taiwan's democracy and aired our domestic disputes there. His performance stunned and disappointed many people in Taiwan," Wu said.
Commenting on Lien's speech at Peking University yesterday morning, Wu said Lien wasted a great and rare opportunity to express the voice of the Taiwanese people to China.
"He did not highlight the fact that the Republic of China [ROC] is a sovereign country. Nor did he mention the freedom and democracy in Taiwan," he said.
Lien failed to say that the ROC's sovereignty belonged to its 23 million people and that only those 23 million people have the final say on matters affecting the country's future, Wu said. Lien did in Beijing what a real statesman would never do -- bringing a domestic row overseas, he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
"Lien criticized Taiwan's democracy and praised China in Beijing. How can he face the people of Taiwan?" Su asked.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km