Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that nothing would be “nonnegotiable” between Taiwan and China once certain conditions are met.
Wang made the remarks at a news conference about a Taiwanese film company’s documentary on a father-son pair of Qing Dynasty artist-officials, Dong Bangda (董邦達) and Dong Gao (董誥).
Chinese culture is what connects the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Wang said, calling for more cultural exchanges, creating more consensuses and increased collaboration.
Photo: Fang Pin-Chao Taipei Times
“When one day the political systems of the two sides are compatible, the GDP per capita comparable, the social and public values similar, and religious freedom guaranteed, the heart of the two sides of the Strait could be melded together and nothing would be nonnegotiable then,” the speaker said.
Meanwhile, asked if he would run in next year’s presidential election for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or instead run for legislative office in Changhua County as has been rumored, Wang called the rumor “nonsense,” but refused to give a definitive answer about the presidential race.
He said a conclusion “would surely be out before May 16,” the deadline for picking up a KMT presidential primary application.
Photo: Fang Pin-Chao, Taipei Times
In related news, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus stalled the legislature with 200 agenda-changing motions in a bid to derail a KMT plan related to draft bills for an oversight mechanism for cross-strait agreements.
The KMT reportedly aims to pass a reconsideration motion of referring the bills to the Internal Administration Committee for review.
If the reconsideration had been put to a floor vote yesterday as the KMT caucus had planned, it likely would have been passed, given the KMT’s legislative majority.
The party could then have had the committee’s convener, KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), preside over the review of the oversight bills.
Chang helped trigger the Sunflower movement in March last year by ramming the cross-strait service trade agreement through the committee and to the legislative floor in just 30 seconds.
The TSU launched its stalling campaign after cross-party negotiations broke down in the morning.
KMT deputy caucus whip Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) said the KMT conceded by allowing KMT Legislator Chiu Wen-yen (邱文彥) to chair the review instead of Chang.
However, TSU lawmakers said there should be a review without the KMT playing a presiding role in the committee.
They then proposed 200 motions to change the legislative agenda.
Each motion requires at least a few minutes to be put to a floor vote. When the floor meeting adjourned at about 4pm, only 61 of the motions had been voted upon.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS