Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced yesterday he would visit China from Thursday until Monday, adding that he hoped the visit would serve as a catalyst for the DPP’s closer engagement with Beijing.
The five-day trip that will take him and his delegation to Xiamen and Beijing will make Hsieh the highest-ranking former DPP official to visit China. Hsieh has served as premier and DPP chairman
“I am willing to take the first step for bilateral exchanges [between the DPP and China] and be responsible for whatever consequences may follow,” Hsieh told a press conference at his office, with more than 50 reporters covering the event.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Cross-strait engagement cannot be monopolized by the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]. The DPP cannot stand still and neither should it be marginalized from the platform of bilateral dialogue,” he said.
The veteran politician has accepted an invitation from the the International Bartenders’ Association to watch a bartending competition in Beijing and was granted a visa for the trip.
Hsieh and his delegation are scheduled to visit Xiamen, Fujian Province, where he will pay tribute to his ancestors on Dongshan Island and visit Xiamen University, as well as Taiwanese businesses, on Thursday and Friday. He will then go to Beijing for the bartending event and a visit to the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed “the Bird’s Nest.”
Hsieh said he would visit China in his private capacity as chairman of the Taiwan Reform Foundation and there would be “no public political events” in his itinerary.
“The visit will also be an attempt to forge mutual trust, which is crucial between domestic political parties, as well as countries across the strait,” he said.
The visit to Xiamen was a dream finally fulfilled, Hsieh said, because a visit he had planned to the city when he was Kaohsiung mayor 12 years ago was blocked by then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
While he would like to make the trip non-political, Hsieh said he would not hesitate to talk to officials in Beijing about the Republic of China and his China policies, which call for a “constitutional consensus” (憲法共識) and "one Constitution, two interpretations (憲法各表)".
Hsieh has been using the two concepts in recent years to replace his previous concept of “constitutional one China” (憲法一中), a vague term that was criticized by some DPP members.
Concerns about his possible political discussions with Chinese leaders were unnecessary, Hsieh said in a question-and-answer session, saying he had “put all [his] ideas in a book,” so he could not change them overnight.
The delegation will include DPP lawmakers Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), Greater Kaohsiung Councilor Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成), Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) and TransWorld University professor Hsieh Min-chieh (謝敏捷).
Several DPP members have visited China since the DPP’s loss in the presidential election in January, including New Taipei City (新北市) office director Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) and DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
Hsieh said he had talked to DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) about the trip, but declined to disclose further details.
Su responded yesterday evening by lauding Hsieh’s effort to promote better understanding of China, saying that he was confident that the trip would be “surprise-free” because Hsieh has always been a wise politician who knows very well how to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and democratic values.
Hsieh has reassured the party that there would be no “political visits and events” during the trip, he said.
Su said he and Hsieh shared the same goal because he had already said that the DPP needed to better understand China in a variety of areas — politics, economics, culture and civil society.
However, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said that the visit should be carefully assessed and should be transparent, adding that any comments should be made cautiously.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying