Vice President Annette Lu (
Lien's trip to China weakened Taiwan's government, polarized the Taiwanese people, demeaned national sovereignty and created an illusion on an international stage, the vice president said. Her criticism came one day after the meeting between Lien and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
During their more than two hour meeting in Beijing on Friday, the two agreed to a five-point "vision for cross-strait peace" based on the so-called "1992 consensus."
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
According to KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (
Stating that China has in recent years continued to boost its annual defense budget, Lu told the audience that the ballistic missiles China has deployed along its southeastern coast within striking distance of Taiwan has grown from two in 1996 to more than 700 now, adding that the number could very well increase to 800 or even a thousand by next year.
"Despite this situation, a demand for the removal of the ballistic missiles was not mentioned in the conversation between Chairman Lien and Mr. Hu, who merely talked about `peace.' This kind of vision of `peace' without substantial content reminds me of Zhang Ying (
Zhang was found guilty of fraud in 2002 and sentenced to one year and two months in prison.
Lu said that Lien, despite having served as vice president and premier in Taiwan, had avoided mentioning these facts during his speech at Peking University, nor did he mention the term "Republic of China" (ROC) at all, except when he laid a wreath at Sun Yat-sen's (孫中山) mausoleum in Nanjing.
"The Beijing authorities are the only people in the world who wish to wipe out the ROC," Lu said. "Lien, being the ROC's opposition party leader, who proclaims often he will safeguard the ROC's sovereignty, dared not speak about China's violation of human rights, but twisted Taiwan's democracy as populism in his speech in Peking University."
"When he was asked `what is the thing he wishes to do first upon returning to Taiwan,' he replied that he `hopes all could identify with the country.' To make that statement in Beijing, it is worth contemplating what country he was referring to," the vice president said in a speech at a Lion's Club meeting in Taipei.
She also dismissed the so-called "1992 consensus" on the "one China" principle mentioned in a news statement released after the Lien-Hu talks as non-existent.
Lu then called on the nation's people to heed the situation, stressing that the ROC is an independent, sovereign state whose sovereign rights belong to its 23 million people, and that any changes to the state quo can only be determined by its people.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying