Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday lashed out at President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), calling it a manipulation of the January elections and labelling the decisionmaking process as opaque.
“Now is a sensitive period of time as election campaigns are underway in Taiwan, and the public would definitely question whether [the president] is intending to influence the election result by holding a Ma-Xi meeting,” Tsai said.
“If the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] always chooses to politically manipulate cross-strait issues ahead of elections, it would have a negative impact on the cross-strait relationship in the long run and would not win support from the people of Taiwan,” she said.
Photo: Reuters
Saying she was shocked upon learning late on Tuesday that Ma is to meet Xi, Tsai panned the decisionmaking process as harmful to Taiwan’s democracy.
“I would like to stress that, we would be happy to see normal cross-strait exchanges based on equality and dignity, openness and transparency, and no political talks,” Tsai said, adding that news of the meeting has triggered questions and doubts from the public because people have lost confidence in the government when it comes to cross-strait exchanges and do not want to see any more opaque decisionmaking.
“I must point out that Ma’s term as president will soon be ending, we therefore would absolutely not allow him to promise something that he cannot be responsible for to gain political reputation for himself,” Tsai said. “He has no right to do so.”
Tsai said that the DPP would keep an eye on the meeting.
In a separate press conference, DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that when running for re-election, Ma promised he would not meet with the Chinese leader during his term as president.
“Now that he was in such a rush to arrange a meeting in an opaque way, we demand that he clearly explain to the public why he has to meet with Xi at this time,” Cheng said. “How has he been in touch with the Chinese? How will the meeting proceed, what will he say and what he will do?”
Cheng said that as president, Ma must remember to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, and refrain from making moves that would misguide the international community, as well as not make any political promises or sign any documents.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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