A top adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (
"President Chen was a little frustrated," Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chen said on Aug. 3 that the ability of Taiwan's 23 million to decide their future was a "basic human right" and there was "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait.
China reacted furiously to Chen's remarks, warning that he was leading Taiwan to "disaster." Beijing has threatened to attack if the country formally declares independence or drags its feet on unification talks.
Analysts said Chen was frustrated by China's diplomatic bullying, military build-up and refusal to deal with him.
Lee said he believes the two sides will mend fences.
"President Chen has goodwill to try to improve relations," said the co-winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1986 and president of Academia Sinica, the nation's top academic institution.
"The people between Taiwan and China also have tremendous amount of goodwill toward each other," Lee said of civilian exchanges between the two sides that have boomed since detente began in the late 1980s.
"Once we have the way to communicate and try to understand each other, things will improve. I am not that pessimistic," he said without elaborating.
Chen has mellowed his pro-independence stance but a suspicious Beijing had largely ignored him.
Chinese experts on Taiwan policy say China's leaders are now debating whether they can deal with Chen at all after his boldest comments since 2000.
Chen said on Sunday that Taiwan would not be intimidated by China, but stopped short of repeating his controversial comments.
The premier said last week the government would proceed with referendum legislation only as a last resort.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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