The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday declined an invitation from China for Taiwan to take part in a series of memorial events to mark the end of World War II, as well as the end of the Japanese rule of Taiwan.
“We believe that it is inappropriate for incumbent government officials to take part in memorial events and a military parade hosted by mainland China,” MAC Deputy Minister Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) said. “As for retired government officials and civil servants, there is a set of regulations regarding their visits to mainland China that they should abide by.”
While private citizens are not barred from attending such events by any law, “they should take into consideration how society may perceive that before making a decision.”
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that China’s war against Japan had little to do with Taiwan, and that it is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that should be worried about such an invitation.
“The KMT’s education system told us that it had led the war that eventually resulted in China’s victory over Japan at the end of World War II, and I believe the Chinese Communist Party has another version of the story,” Cheng said. “So it is the KMT that should be worried about the battle of political ideologies.”
Cheng said that the decision on whether to participate in such events is irrelevant and that what really matters are frequent visits by retired high-ranking military officers and civilian officials to China, as they may take — as many have already done — classified military intelligence, information or technology to China.
“That is what we should really worry about,” he said.
The remarks were made in response to an invitation that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) made during a press conference in Beijing yesterday morning.
“We welcome Taiwanese compatriots to participate in memorial activities, and hope people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can always remember history, cherish the memory of martyrs and rally together through war victory activities,” she said, adding that the victory belongs to “the entire nation.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to oversee a military parade, reception and evening gala for the anniversary, which is likely to be marked in September, and will invite leaders from major participants in the war, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said, although it has not said which leaders.
China is also to hold a series of events this year to mark the end of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan, Fan added, without providing details.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
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