The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday defended the possibility of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at next year’s APEC meeting in Beijing, insisting that such a meeting would only be held if supported by Taiwanese and if national dignity can be maintained.
“It is President Ma’s persistent stance that a meeting between leaders from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must be held when we have such a need, with the support of the people and with reciprocal dignity,” KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) said.
Ma said in an interview published in the Hong Kong-based magazine Yazhou Zhoukan on Wednesday that he expects to attend the APEC meeting as the leader of an “economic entity,” rather than as the nation’s president or KMT chairman, adding that he would be willing to meet with Xi during the economic summit in Beijing.
“[The two sides of the Taiwan Strait] need to create some conditions for such a meeting. We are still in the process of creating these conditions,” he said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has ruled out the possibility of a Ma-Xi meeting at the APEC summit when asked to comment on the issue, he added.
Ma in the interview declined to confirm whether he is seeking to define his historical status through a meeting with Xi, and said such a meeting would only happen when the nation is in need and with the public’s support.
While Xi has been putting pressure on the Ma administration for cross-strait political negotiations, Ma said the government would not avoid political talks with China, but the time is not ripe for such talks.
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi’s (王郁琦) meeting with TAO Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in October on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Indonesia was seen as a move to pave the way for a meeting between Ma and Xi.
The first official meeting between Wang and Zhang, which is to be held after the Lunar New Year holidays in February, also drew attention to the cross-strait agenda to be addressed during the meeting.
Wang on Wednesday said a meeting between the national leaders of the two sides should be held at an appropriate time and venue. When reporting to the KMT Central Standing Committee the prospects for cross-strait relations in the wake of the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th congress, he said the MAC would continue to strive for Ma to attend the APEC meeting as the leader of an economic entity.
Wang later denied in a press release that he suggested the council would push for Ma to visit China, and that next year’s APEC summit in Beijing provides an appropriate venue for Ma to meet with Xi.
In the interview, Ma also reiterated his calls for the legislature to facilitate the review process of the cross-strait service trade agreement and said it would be impossible for the government to renegotiate the pact with China.
“It’s impossible to start a new negotiation on the agreement. There have been no such cases in the world and mainland China will not accept it either,” he said.
Ma also rejected the argument that the US and South Korea had renegotiated their free-trade agreement, saying that the renegotiation was held because it was proposed by the US to further open its markets.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS