Taiwan will not negotiate with a regime that kills its own people and supports Myanmar's military junta, the Executive Yuan said yesterday in response to Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
"Human rights and democracy are the foundation of the country," Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
"That is why Taiwan can connect with the world. If the Beijing administration really wants to pin its hopes on the people of Taiwan, it should listen to them and think about the people killed, imprisoned and arrested during the 38 years of martial law and 50 years of one-party rule. It should realize what price the Taiwanese have paid for human rights and democracy," he said.
While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might rule China, it does not represent all Chinese, Shieh said.
"The Taiwanese and Chinese can stand together for democracy and human rights, but we will never discuss peace, unification or any other issues with a regime that bullies and suppresses Tibet, kills its own people and backs the military junta in Myanmar," he said.
Shieh made the remarks at an event promoting Taiwan's UN membership campaign at the Executive Yuan yesterday afternoon.
Lai I-chung (
"Hu does not seem to understand that `one China,' `one country, two systems,' and `peaceful unification' do not have any market in Taiwan. They are only popular among a few groups," he said. "The public opinion is that Taiwan is an independent sovereignty and Taiwan and China are two different countries. Any change to the `status quo' must obtain the consent of the Taiwanese public."
Although Hu proposed an end to cross-strait enmity, Lai said that Taiwan has never been hostile to China, while Beijing has 1,000 missiles targeted at Taiwan and seeks to limit Taiwan's diplomatic space and economic power.
"The crux of the problem does not lie in enmity but in China's unwillingness to reconcile with Taiwan," he said. "Both sides can only reconcile if China stopped its military intimidation and diplomatic oppression and recognized Taiwan's existence."
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement yesterday afternoon criticizing China's "one China" policy as the "biggest obstacle" in cross-strait relations, emphasizing that Taiwan's sovereignty belonged to the 23 million people of Taiwan who have the final say on the nation's future.
"China's one-party rule and bogus democracy cannot bring sustainable development to China or bring real peace to the Taiwan Strait," the statement said. "Democracy is the foundation of peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait. We are calling on the Chinese authority to abandon its rigid thinking and adopt a practical approach to face the reality that neither side is subordinate to the other."
DPP vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that Beijing had to refrain from trying to force the Taiwanese public to accept its terms, and should instead respect the will of the Taiwanese to decide their future.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)