Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) yesterday said that there is no precedent for reopening negotiations on signed agreements between countries and that the “authority” of treaties inked by authorized representatives from both sides of the Taiwan Strait must be defended.
Fan made the remarks at a routine press conference in China yesterday amid growing calls for the government to renegotiate the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement it signed with Beijing on June 21 last year.
The remarks followed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng’s (吳育昇) proposal on Tuesday to put the trade agreement to a referendum if lawmakers from different parties remain sharply divided on its passage.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) proffered a different solution on Monday, urging the government to defuse the standoff by bringing the service pact into effect and then employing the “emergency consultation mechanism” to renegotiate the most debated parts of it with China.
“This would be a better approach since subjecting the agreement to even a standard revision by the legislature could trigger its complete renegotiation,” Wang said.
Dismissing the ongoing bid to institutionalize a cross-strait agreement supervisory mechanism, Fan said: “The normal process of equal cross-strait consultations should not be interfered with, nor obstructed.”
However, Fan said Beijing was willing to listen to the opinions of Taiwanese from all sectors of society to assure that most of them can benefit from the peaceful development of bilateral relations.
“The promotion of cross-strait economic cooperation and interaction is particularly beneficial for Taiwanese and has brought substantial benefits to both sides,” Fan said.
In response to the Taiwan Affairs Office’s comments, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said China’s lack of democracy makes it difficult for the leadership in Beijing to understand the essence of a true democracy.
“As Taiwan is a country of democracy and rule of law, its legislature is in charge of monitoring all exterior trade negotiations, as well as all legislation. It’s common sense to us, but I guess China could perhaps have difficulty realizing what this means,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
“Although China refused to reopen negotiations, it must respect Taiwan’s position and its interior procedures,” Lin added.
Lin described Beijing’s attitude toward Taiwan as “negative” regarding bilateral economic activities and said he suspected that China would not take such a hard stance in its trade dealings with other nations such as Japan, South Korea and South Asian countries.
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS