Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday said that any further breakthroughs between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will have to be achieved “slowly, one step at a time.”
Previously, China referred to the council by all kinds of alternative names, but it used the title “Mainland Affairs Council” for the first time during Wang’s visit last week, he said in a radio interview.
“This is progress, a breakthrough,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Wang said that other breakthroughs achieved during his four-day visit included his public reference to the Republic of China (ROC) and the use of his official title on a card attached to a wreath presented at ROC founding father Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) mausoleum in Nanjing.
Wang said that the proposal to hold a presidential summit between the two sides during the Beijing-sponsored Boao Forum for Asia will have to be studied.
He gave that assessment after the Chinese government ruled out the possibility of such a summit taking place at the APEC forum in Beijing in November.
China does not deem it appropriate for the leaders from each side of the Taiwan Strait to meet in an international setting such as the APEC forum, so the possibility of them meeting at that time is not high, Wang said.
Wang added that he would ask former vice president and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to raise the issue of officials’ right to visit detainees on the opposite side during his visit to China.
Lien left for Beijing yesterday.
The two sides have in principle reached an agreement to set up reciprocal representative offices, but there are still differences over Taiwan’s request that officials of its proposed representative office in China be allowed to visit Taiwanese detainees there, and vice versa.
Lien, who chairs the Lien Chan Foundation for Peace and Development, is leading a delegation of business and KMT officials on a four-day visit, during which they will attend a forum and exchange ideas with their counterparts in China.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) yesterday said in Beijing that Lien will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
It will be Lien’s second meeting with Xi in as many years.
Lien’s visit will be meaningful for the expansion and deepening of exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and will be beneficial to enhancing mutual understanding between the two sides, Fan said, lauding Lien for making significant contributions to promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
In 2005, Lien became the first top KMT leader to visit China since 1949. Since then, he has maintained warm relations with top CCP leaders, including Xi’s predecessor former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Fan said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS