Following the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) refusal to endorse an economic development project on a Chinese island touted by Beijing as an “experimental zone” for joint development by Taiwan and China, Beijing yesterday slammed the council for “often playing a passive role in the development of cross-strait negotiations.”
“We do not wish to comment on every word uttered by the MAC, but we feel that the council too often plays a passive role in the development of cross-strait relations,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi (楊毅) said yesterday.
Yang was apparently referring to the position announced by the council on Thursday, in which it said China should refrain from political overtures when promoting cross-strait cooperation on Pingtan Island, where the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone is being developed by China’s Fujian Provincial Government as a pilot area for cross-strait cooperation.
“What they [the Chinese authorities] want to do in the Pingtan area is their own business. It has nothing to do with [Taiwanese] government policy,” MAC Deputy Minister Kao Charng (高長) said on Thursday.
China had given too much of a political overtone to the Pingtan project, which was designed in accordance with its “12th five-year plan” that handles cross-strait relationships under the principle of the “one country, two systems” formula, MAC spokesman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) added, saying that more than 80 percent of Taiwanese reject such a formula.
MAC official Lu Chang-shui (盧長水) said yesterday that it was the mutual goal of both sides to build a more solid base on which win-win cross-strait relations could be achieved.
The government was taking the process slowly in order to stabilize cross-strait relations, Lu said, adding: “The MAC has always worked toward our goal on this basis, and there is no problem of it being passive or active. We hope that both sides of the strait cherish the hard-won results of recent years.”
The council also has a different take on Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi’s (王毅) recent comment on pro-Taiwan independence forces.
Addressing the 10th Cross-strait Relations Forum on Thursday in China’s Yunnan Province, Wang said China placed great emphasis on contact and interaction with Taiwanese.
“We must encourage our brethren on both sides of the Strait to reinforce the recognition that we are one ethnic group and continue to purge the remnants of dangerous thoughts of pro-Taiwanese independence from the educational and cultural sectors,” he said.
Commenting on Wang’s remarks regarding “purging the remnants of danger posed by pro-Taiwanese independence thoughts,” Liu said that as Taiwan is a democratic and dynamic society: “We do not have such a problem.”
Wang’s comments were met with scathing rebuttals by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers, saying such reactionary “united front” (統戰) rhetoric is unacceptable to Taiwanese.
“If China cannot yet accept that there are two countries across the Strait and is still living in its own world, the cross-strait psychological distance will only grow, whilst the Taiwanese will only distrust the Chinese government more,” DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.
TSU Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said that a Taiwan--centric view is deeply rooted in the hearts of all Taiwanese and if China still desires interaction, Taiwan would be glad to share with China the experiences and value of liberty and democracy.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2