Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for a new cross-strait development plan, while urging Beijing to ease hostility toward Taipei and refrain from supporting specific groups in Taiwan.
During a plenary session of the legislature, Lai wished the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) success at its 19th National Congress, which is to begin today, while calling on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to adjust his strategy toward Taiwan.
“Beijing has tried to isolate Taiwan from the international community and divide Taiwanese society, and it has even supported specific groups, which, frankly speaking, is asking the wrong man for the job and is unhelpful for peaceful cross-strait development,” Lai said.
Photo: CNA
Lai was referring to a disturbance caused by pro-unification parties and groups allegedly linked to organized crime and having received funding from Beijing.
“Following the 19th National Congress, President Xi should properly assess past cross-strait interactions and continue mutually beneficial exchanges while adjusting ineffective and counterproductive moves,” Lai said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) asked if Lai’s insistence on Taiwanese independence could provoke a response from Beijing, to which Lai said that sincerity and honesty prevent misunderstanding.
Lai, in his first legislative interpellation session on Sept. 26, reaffirmed his pro-independence stance, saying he is a “pragmatic independence politician.”
Meanwhile, China’s military activities have decreased and there is no apparent change to its foreign policies ahead of the congress, the Cabinet said.
Lu asked if China had made any unusual military arrangements ahead of the congress, to which Lai said there was a personnel reshuffle and the Cabinet had a good grasp of the situation, but refused to comment further.
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said that Beijing’s frequent military activities around Taiwan have relented since China’s National Day holidays, due in part to weather conditions and the long weekend.
There is no sign of any aggressive military arrangements, suggesting that Beijing’s attitude has eased, Feng said.
On the diplomatic front, Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies are stable, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said.
“There has always been a tug-of-war with China in foreign relations. It started long before May 20 last year [when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was inaugurated]. It has always been like this. Sometimes China exerts more pressure, but it is relatively stable now,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, Lai said that Taiwan would interact with China on the principles of equality and mutual respect during the APEC summit, after KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) questioned if Taiwan’s participation under the name “Chinese Taipei” might damage the nation’s dignity.
Citing Tsai’s statement that her administration is willing to have friendly interactions with Beijing under the APEC framework, Lai said that it might be an affront to Taiwan’s sovereignty because the nation cannot join APEC as a state.
The public should support Tsai’s proposal, which seeks to achieve a common ground with Beijing to develop cross-strait relations on the right track, Lai said.
Taiwan and China are to interact as separate APEC members and economies, Lai said, avoiding the question if the interaction should be defined as a state-to-state.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS