The Presidential Office yesterday said it had not yet received a telephone call from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who on Saturday said that she hoped to talk with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) following last week’s controversial visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that Tsai had the telephone number of Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏), but as of yesterday Chan had not received a call from Tsai.
“She also has the telephone number of National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming [蔡朝明] and called him.” Wang said. “So it is a question of whether she wants to call or not.”
Wang said that while Tsai had criticized the Presidential Office for lacking sincerity by inviting her for talks via the media, Tsai had done the same thing this time around.
Wang said they would like to find out Tsai’s intentions and would be happy to make arrangements if she really wanted to talk.
In response to the Presidential Office’s comment, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said: “Tsai brought up a serious discussion topic — unifying the people as well as the maintenance of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Instead of having his staff bounce back the issue so frivolously, President Ma should conscientiously ponder these issues, consider a framework in which the ruling and the opposition parties can interact, and decide how he wishes to respond.”
Cheng added that it was Ma who first brought up cross-party talks several months ago, a proposal that Tsai had supported.
“President Ma has said he had gotten in contact with Chairperson Tsai three times, which he hasn’t. I’m not sure why he said that, but it is not true,” Cheng said, adding that although Chan contacted the DPP a few months ago, the discussion went nowhere and was dropped.
As the national leader had proposed such a meeting, Tsai, who leads the opposition party, was demonstrating goodwill in response, Cheng said, adding that the exchange should not get stuck on who should call whom first.
While the DPP would not ask the Presidential Office for a formal invitation, it would ask that the president demonstrate his sincerity when he said that he wanted interaction by carefully considering Tsai’s comments — that gaps exist between Ma’s performance and people’s expectations, as well as between the two parties — before taking the next step, he said.
Commenting on the need for talks, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) voiced support for dialogue. Wu said such a dialogue would help ease the tension between the government and the opposition as long as Tsai did not limit the topic of dialogue to the sovereignty issue.
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