Hours before Barack Obama’s inauguration as president, China called for stronger military ties with the US and said the key threats facing its national security were Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
Ministry of Defense Spokesman Colonel Hu Changming (胡昌明) said there were “difficulties” in military relations between the two countries and expressed hope the situation would improve.
“In this new period we hope that both China and the US could make joint efforts to create favorable conditions and improve and promote military-to-military relations,” Hu told reporters.
Hu was responding to a question on planned US arms sales to Taiwan that resulted in China postponing a series of high-level military exchanges with the US last year.
Later yesterday, China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated a demand that the US end the sales.
“China is resolutely against the US sales of weapons to Taiwan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said.
Yesterday Hu said separatist forces in Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang remained major threats to China’s security and were top military priorities.
“Taiwan independence, East Turkestan, Tibetan independence and other separatist forces form a major security threat to the unity of the nation and a challenge to our security organs,” Hu said.
“On these issues there can be no compromise and no tolerance,” he said.
Hu was speaking at the launch of China’s National Defense in 2008 policy paper.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS