The Chinese Nationalist Party's(KMT) presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou (
"If the two sides of the Strait are to resume negotiations, reach any peace agreement or negotiate any kind of military or mutual trust mechanism, I will first request that China withdraw the missiles deployed along its southeast coast because we are not willing to conduct peace negotiations while we are threatened by missiles," he said when approached by reporters at a conference for Taiwanese businessmen based in China.
He said Taiwan and China should regard freedom and democracy as the foundation for cross-strait dialogue.
In an article in yesterday's Chinese-language United Daily News, Ma said on the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that he would particularly like to emphasize the idea of having "freedom and democracy as the mutual `language' of the two sides of the Strait."
Ma said China's reform is limited to issues concerning people's livelihoods, but that it "has not relaxed its oppression of freedom of the press or other human rights."
"Similarly, China is also hostile to the Republic of China [ROC] for its [pursuit] of the right to participate in international affairs. It is particularly hostile regarding issues such as [the ROC's] participation in the WHO and other international bodies," he said.
"This is a violation of the will and the feelings of the Taiwanese people," Ma said in the article. "Today [yesterday] also marks a year until the beginning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics [sic]. We hope China can reconstruct its image through this international event."
"We also hope China can quicken its pace to democracy so as to nurture a new cross-strait dialogue," the article quoted him as saying.
"We are confident that Taiwanese democracy will be more mature. As a result, we are not afraid of pursuing exchanges with China but support broadening the scope of cross-strait exchanges because doing so will be advantageous to not only the Taiwanese economy but also China's democratic development," he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized Ma's proposed cross-strait policies, saying that he had failed to provide any assessment of the feasibility of his ideas.
"It shows it [Ma's cross-strait platform] is simply a campaign tool and he could not ensure his ideas would be implemented," the MAC said in a statement released later yesterday.
If Ma signs a peace agreement or negotiates with China based on the so-called "1992 consensus," it would be very likely be framed according to Beijing's "one China principle," unless Ma asked Beijing to clearly state that the "1992 consensus" has nothing to do with the "one China" principle, the MAC statement said.
"It would be degrading and would seriously damage the rights and interests of the 23 million people of Taiwan," the statement added.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS