President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore on Saturday has undermined Taiwan’s sovereignty and breached the “status quo,” pro-localization civic associations, including the World Taiwanese Congress said yesterday.
Taiwan Nation Alliance chairman Wu Shu-min (吳樹民) condemned the Ma-Xi meeting.
“Ever since Ma assumed office, he has tirelessly promoted the fabricated ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one-China, two expressions,’ while in reality dreaming of meeting Xi and fantasizing about winning a Nobel Peace Prize,” Wu said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“Ma wanted to arrange the meeting with Xi before his term of office comes to an end, and he was willing to ignore the democratic process and employ underhand methods to achieve this. It was not until Wednesday last week, when the media made the shocking revelation that Ma was going to Singapore to meet Xi on Saturday, that Ma was finally compelled to go public with the announcement,” Wu said.
“The alliance strongly condemns this blatant violation of democratic procedures and declares that it does not recognize any consensus announced by the Ma-Xi meeting,” he said.
World Taiwanese Congress chairperson Susan Chang (程韻如) said that with Ma’s effort to secure a “legacy” for himself, he had sacrificed the Taiwanese “right to self-determination,” and forced cross-strait relations to proceed under the “1992 consensus,” resulting in the erosion of Taiwan’s standing in the international community.
“The legacy Ma made for himself is a betrayal of Taiwanese, and the destruction of the Republic of China,” World Taiwanese Congress secretary-general Wang Kang-hou (王康厚) said.
Wu said that the KMT government, in print and digital media, had endeavored to obscure the reality of Taiwan’s status by creating false narratives on what the “status quo” constitutes.
“The alliance reiterates that the ‘status quo’ that we pledge to maintain is defined by the following: Taiwan is a sovereign and independent nation; No relationship of [sovereign] possession exists between Taiwan and China; Taiwan is free and democratic, and that the Taiwan Strait must remain peaceable and stable,” he said.
Former Mainland Affairs Chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said in 2006 that he made up the term “1992 consensus in 2000.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite