The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took the first step toward the formulation of its cross-strait policy as its nine-member China Affairs Committee held its first meeting yesterday in the face of mounting cross-strait challenges.
“Almost every member of the committee agreed that the DPP’s core values have withstood the test of time and changing political situation. Discussions over strategic options and substantial policies are what this committee has to accomplish in the future,” committee spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) told a press conference.
The two-hour meeting gathered all the committee members, namely committee convener and DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), former premier Yu Shyi-kun, DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and former DPP secretary--general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁).
Photo: Lo Pei-Der, Taipei Times
Chen Ming-tung (陳明通), a National Taiwan University professor who served as Mainland Affairs Council chairman under the DPP administration, gave the keynote speech, “Taiwan’s China agenda.”
In it, he highlighted a “Taiwan Dream” based on the Taiwanese people’s high degree of consensus on sovereignty, security, human rights and economic benefits, Cheng quoted Chen as saying.
Underlining the hierarchy of the DPP’s cross-strait policy, Chiou said the party should be able to assess its basic position, strategic options and policymaking to counter persistent challenges from Beijing, Cheng said.
Former premiers Yu and Hsieh, who hold very different attitudes toward China, both laid out their main ideas in the meeting, with Yu saying that he would support any policy as long as it does not harm national interests and does not violate the DPP’s Resolution on Taiwan’s Future (台灣前途決議文) and its Normal Country Resolution (正常國家決議文).
Hsieh, who did not join the committee until this week, played down the differences between his moderate China policy and other members’ more hawkish positions, saying that the only difference between them could be his initiative of “constitutions with different interpretations (憲法各表).”
While the spokesperson said the atmosphere of the meeting was generally convivial, a DPP member who was at the meeting said on condition of anonymity that Chiou argued with Hsieh about the DPP’s attitude to the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.
Chiou said the DPP does not accept the ROC Constitution in its entirety, while Hsieh believed the opposite, the source said.
The committee’s second meeting is scheduled for July 11, DPP Department of China Affairs director Honigmann Hong (洪財隆) said, adding that the meetings would be held every two months.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue
RSS