The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dismissed allegations yesterday that it had agreed to Beijing’s arrangement of the Olympics opening march in exchange for Chinese media referring to Taiwan’s Olympic team as Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, Chinese Taipei).
“China’s decision not to refer to Taiwan as Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, or Taipei, China) was an act of goodwill after the KMT asked Beijing to respect the reality of the situation,” Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), director of the KMT’s Mainland Affairs Division, said yesterday.
Chang made the remarks in response to a story in Next Magazine that Wu had reached a consensus with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) during a meeting in May that Taiwan would agree to the athletes’ march based on the number of strokes in the first character of each country or territory’s name in simplified Chinese.
Based on a protocol signed in 1981 between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the “Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee” was abbreviated as “TPE” and listed under the “T” section in the IOC’s directory and in the march.
In return, China’s official news outlets would use Zhonghua Taibei, the official title used by Taiwan at the Olympics, rather than Zhongguo Taibei, during the Beijing Olympics.
Chang, who had accompanied Wu to attend the Wu-Hu meeting in May, said the magazine’s accusations were groundless and added the chairman also dismissed the allegations in China.
“[The story] is groundless. There’s absolutely no basis to it,” Chang quoted Wu as saying in the statement.
Chang said that the Olympic opening procession was arranged by the Beijing Organizing Committee and had nothing to do with the Wu-Hu meeting or the KMT.
At a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference that Wu should explain to the public whether he met Hu in May to arrange the title of Taiwan’s Olympic team and the placements for the opening march.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS