The Presidential Office yesterday said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had asked about the progress of a plan to build a bridge connecting Kinmen with China’s Xiamen, but had not given instructions for its construction.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) told a press conference that “there was a gap between the media report and the truth.”
Wang made the remarks in response to media inquiries about a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday.
The report said Ma asked the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) to expedite the study of a construction project and to present the evaluation report as soon as possible.
The paper said Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) had promised Ma that the Executive Yuan would speed up the process and brief the president at an appropriate time.
The United Daily News reported that the CEPD had said it would complete the evaluation and send it to the Executive Yuan for review by the end of the month.
Wang said that during Ma’s inspection trip to Kinmen on Aug. 24 last year, the president told local residents that there should not be any technical problem building the Kindeng Bridge (金嶝大橋), but that he would like them to consider its political implication and effectiveness.
Ma then asked the CEPD to complete the assessment by the end of last year, Wang said. When Ma had dinner with Hsueh and other staffers at the Taipei Guest House on Wednesday evening, Wang said Ma inquired about the progress of the evaluation report.
“The president did not instruct the Executive Yuan to build the bridge,” Wang said yesterday.
When asked whether Ma supported the construction of the bridge, Wang said it would depend on the result of the assessment report.
At a separate setting, Cabinet Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the CEPD was still evaluating the possibility of building the bridge and that the Executive Yuan did not have any particular opinions regarding the issue.
The government would only support policies that would benefit the country, he said.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) yesterday said that convenience should not be the only factor considered for the construction of the bridge, because both sides of the Strait have sign ed agreements to launch direct air and sea transportation links.
“The matter also concerns the economy and living environment,” he said. “We think such a project should be carefully assessed by the CEPD.”
Liu said his understanding was that the bridge could cost NT$10 billion (US$297 million) to build.
When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民), a member of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, said a bridge could become a symbol of cross-strait peace.
“Under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), [Kinmen] was an important military site because we were planning to retake China,” Shuai said. “But we are no longer planning to retake China ... this [bridge] could be seen as an important development of cross-strait reconciliation.”
Other legislators, however, were worried that construction of the bridge would lead to Taiwanese taxpayers’ money being spent on helping China develop Xiamen.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from