In response to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) request that she elaborate on her cross-strait agenda, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she has explained it well already and criticized Ma for not knowing about the public’s real concerns.
“I explained clearly on April 15 that ‘maintaining the status quo’ refers to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait and maintaining stable developments in cross-strait relations,” Tsai said at the DPP’s headquarters in Taipei on the sidelines of the party’s Central Executive Committee meeting.
“There is a newly released opinion poll showing that as much as 74 percent of the public agrees with such an idea — showing that what I have said is in accordance with public expectations,” she said.
Photo: CNA
In a speech on cross-strait development yesterday, Ma said that Tsai, as the DPP’s candidate for next year’s presidential election, has a duty to clearly define what she means by the “status quo” and her plans to maintain it.
In response to Ma’s comment that she is trying to avoid the “one China” issue, Tsai said that there was no need for Ma to repeat the same thing, because “that is not something that the public cares about,” and that speaking about “one China” would not help to resolve the real problems that Taiwan faces.
“If what he says is ‘useful,’ there would not be so many people upset with his government,” Tsai said.
Tsai said she met yesterday with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) to discuss the future of Taiwan’s industries, labor rights, environmental issues, the gap between poor and rich, and the differences between southern and northern Taiwan.
“I think these are the issues that the people are really concerned about,” the DPP chairperson said.
“It is rather disappointing that, after being the president for seven years, Ma still does not know what the public really cares about. I do not understand why he had to go to the Mainland Affairs Council to say what he said,” Tsai said.
“These are things that he has repeatedly said in the past. If they were useful and acceptable to the public, he would not need to repeat them, and he would not have lost the public’s trust,” she said.
Tsai said that she sympathizes with Ma, as he has to ask these questions on behalf of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate before the party has selected one.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS