Government officials yesterday said that a planned trip by a delegation of New Party members to China for cross-strait talks will have little impact and may only confuse officially sanctioned talks.
New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng (馮滬祥) announced yesterday that a delegation under the auspices of the New Party's legislative caucus will visit China next Monday in what he claimed was a move to break the deadlock in cross-strait relations.
But officials from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) warned that the results, if any, of unofficial channels of communication would be limited.
"Any negotiation channels made without the endorsement from the government can cause confusion and hinder the entire process," said SEF Vice Chairman Shi Hwei-yow (
Shi made the comment when responding to a report by the Hong-Kong based daily Wen Hui Pao (
Chinese officials said the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) would seek to open "other venues" in Taiwan to deal with substantive issues across the Taiwan Strait.
ARATS also said that it would not make formal contact with SEF before the foundation declares its stance on the "one China" principle, which China sees as the basis for reopening talks with Taiwan, the report said.
Political observers said the Wen Hui Pao report was merely one of China's strategies to pressure Taiwan to return to the negotiation table.
"This is a strategy China has orchestrated to pressure Taiwan before cross-strait negotiations are re-opened," said Andy Chang (張五岳), director of the Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University.
"While China knows that it has to negotiate with a group endorsed by the government in Taiwan eventually, what it does at present is to influence various forces in Taiwan's domestic political landscape. China perhaps hopes that these forces will in turn pressure the government in Taiwan to agree on the `one China' principle," Chang said.
But Elmer Feng (
"It is true that the delegation's visit is being made because of a formal invitation by ARATS. And the New Party is the first party in Taiwan that has received an invitation from ARATS since May 20. But this merely results from our party's efforts to address cross-strait problems regarding civilians," Feng claimed.
Feng also said that the delegation could serve as "facilitators" between official negotiation channels, especially at a time when official venues for talks were less than smooth.
"We are trying to open non-mainstream avenues and intend to work as mediators," Feng said.
Chang, however, said the delegation should be aware of its limits.
"After all, what is at stake is the official channel for negotiation -- the process that is sanctioned by the government," Chang said.
The group set to make the trip is called the "New Party delegation promoting cross-strait reconciliation" (
The delegation is to visit the Mainland Affairs Council tomorrow and to get opinions from Wang's counterpart, Koo Chen-fu (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique