China said yesterday it had returned all mail and parcels found with a postmark supporting Taiwan's entry into the UN because the wording promotes independence.
"Taiwan authorities preaching `Taiwan independence' through postal services has infringed on Taiwan compatriots' freedom of communication," said Fan Liqing (范麗青), a spokeswoman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office.
"This has seriously impaired the exchanges of letters between people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwan people's exchanges with other parts of the world," Fan told reporters.
The "UN for Taiwan" postmarks are part of a campaign ahead of a referendum planned in March on whether Taiwan should apply to join the UN under the name Taiwan instead of its official title the Republic of China.
The slogan also appears on public posters and on some shop receipts, sometimes along with a picture of President Chen Shui-bian (
Media reports earlier this month said Chinese authorities demanded recipients of letters stamped with the logo, mostly the 1 million Taiwan businesspeople based in China, sign a statement denouncing the UN bid to receive them.
But Fan said they were merely sent back.
"Letters of this kind have been returned according to regulations," she said.
Taiwan Post Co said 152 letters stamped with the mark were returned between Oct. 1 and Nov. 13 from China.
It said the mark only goes on the letters of those who agree to have it, adding that the postmark will remain available until Dec. 31.
In response, the Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement last night lashing out at the Chinese government, saying that putting postmarks on letters did not violate international conventions.
The council urged Beijing to abide by international practice and deliver the mail to recipients instead of intercepting and returning it to senders.
"It is common for countries to put commemorative postmarks or logos on mail," the statement said.
The council called on China to stop such an "uncivilized practice" and promote the "freedom of communication" between people on both sides of the Strait.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘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