Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that keeping cross-strait relations stable is a shared objective, adding that all concerned parties should sit and negotiate a solution acceptable to all involved.
“I can feel that everyone is concerned about how the DPP — and I — will handle China affairs. We are working hard to take care of the issue, hoping to maintain cross-strait stability and peace under very complicated circumstances, while defending Taiwan’s interests at the same time, and allow Taiwanese to have more options,” Tsai said. “We want to do it well, and it needs time, and we have been in good communication with different parties.”
Tsai made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about comments made on Friday at a conference on cross-strait relations hosted by the Heritage Foundation in Washington by former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) managing director Barbara Schrage.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Schrage reportedly said that Tsai was unable to clarify Washington’s doubts about her China policy when she visited the US in September 2011 as the DPP’s candidate for the 2012 presidential election, and urged Tsai to present something new that would ease the concerns of China and the US.
Tsai — who is expected to be her party’s candidate in next year’s presidential election — is expected to have a chance to elucidate her stance in a visit to Washington set for later this year, Schrage said, adding that if Tsai cannot present something new, she would not be able to pass the test easily.
Schrage retired in January last year from the position she had held since 2006.
Asked if she considers Schrage’s remarks as US interference with Taiwan’s election, Tsai yesterday reaffirmed that she believes that the US will remain neutral, since it “has repeatedly stressed that it would not interfere in our election.”
Tsai said that stability and peace in cross-strait relations is beneficial to all parties and thus everyone should work together to find a solution that is acceptable to all and beneficial to the people of Taiwan.
“Rather than saying it is intervention or influencing, I suggest that we all sit down and talk,” Tsai said.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS