The government appeared to be at a loss yesterday when trying to explain how the president's New Year's speech would be translated into policy, with Cabinet officials offering contradictory remarks and some denying that any policies would be changed.
For example, a Cabinet spokesman yesterday denied that the government was tightening cross-strait economic policies, while the premier warned that companies wanting to invest in China would face mandatory audits in the future.
"The extent and scope of further opening-up of cross-strait economic policy hinges on whether the government has a concrete and efficient management plan, and how well it is implemented," Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said. "There is no such a thing as tightening or relaxing cross-strait economic policy, because we can always talk about further opening-up if it is carried out well."
PHOTO: CNA
Cho made the remark in response to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) New Year address, in which Chen said that cross-strait economic policy would be changed to "active management, effective opening" to lower the risks of allowing more investment in China.
As for cross-strait schemes already in the planning process, such as charter flight services for the Lunar New Year, Cho said that they would not be affected by the new cross-strait economic policy.
Other Cabinet members were able to speak only in general terms about the issue.
Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (
The biggest difference between the old strategy of "active opening, effective management" and the new policy of "active management, effective opening," Ho said, is that the government will take national interests into consideration, rather than the interests of a particular company or sector.
Premier Frank Hsieh (
During comments to the media about the president's speech, Hsieh said that one of the things the government was considering was requiring audits of companies that invested in China.
While the president's speech had been construed by some as a sign of increased political confrontation, Hsieh yesterday called on politicians to refrain from engaging in feuds.
Hsieh said that a recent opinion poll revealed that most people find politicians abhorrent, and were put in the same category as gangsters.
"The result of vicious feuding is to get oneself destroyed," he said. "Like a tragic hero, one gets destroyed like a suicide bomber."
"Political fighting is foolish and will only result in self-destruction," Hsieh said. "Some people think that everything about China is good and everything about Taiwan is bad and wrong ... My theory is that whatever has happened, is going to happen or cannot be stopped is good."
Hsieh also said he was confident that economic development for this year will be better than last year.
He called on the public to have faith in the government.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) also made comments clarifying the president's speech.
Wu yesterday blasted back at pan-blue camp legislators for their critique of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Wu made the remarks while being questioned by pan-blue camp legislators in the Legislature's Home and Nations Committee.
"According to the MAC's regular survey conducted last November, the support rate for tightening cross-strait policies was 57.8 percent, while that of relaxing cross-strait policies was just 25.5 percent. It was quite a wide gap," Wu said.
Wu said total investment made by Taiwanese enterprises in China has been shooting up over the years.
"While the official amount was US$40 billion, unofficial statistics from the Straits Exchange Foundation indicate US$150 billion," Wu said.
also see stories:
Wang says a referendum is unlikely
US expects Chen to uphold cross-strait `status quo'
Lu tells visitors China wants to annex Taiwan
Investors in China may face audits
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2