Vice President Annette Lu
Speaking at a training seminar for business executives, she said China's shadow has had great an impact on Taiwan, noting that Taiwan businessmen have invested more than US$30 billion in the country so far, and cross-strait industrial cooperation has continued to widen, with Taiwan's high-tech industry gradually making inroads into China's midwest.
Cross-strait financial cooperation has also increased, she said, adding that Beijing has given the approval for two Taiwan banks, 12 securities companies, and five insurance companies to set up in China.
She also said that bilateral trade between the two sides of the Strait has accumulated to US$250 billion as of June 2002 since 1988, with Taiwan enjoying a trade surplus of US$160 billion. China has overtaken the US to become the biggest export market of Taiwan.
Lu urged the public to be vigilant, especially in view of Beijing's hegemonic attitude and the geological proximity of the two sides, on the issues of direct trade, postal and transportation links with China.
She divulged that Chinese Vice Prime Minister Qian Qichen
Lu stressed that direct transportation will not only involve the issue of cost cutting, but that Taiwan will have to pay the price in economics, politics and other areas and the government needs to carefully evaluate the issue.
On the challenge of being marginalized, Lu said that Taiwan has almost no diplomatic allies in Asia, and it is barred from attending the Europe-Asia Summit. If the situation continues, Taiwan will not only find it difficult to maneuver in Asia, it will also be restricted to having exchanges with Europe in trade and cultural aspects.
Faced with the challenge of becoming relying too heavily on China, Lu urged the public to use their wisdom and creativity, saying that Taiwan should be a classic example of a country rich in technology -- a nation which is "small, but beautiful and strong."
Lu stressed that Taiwan is already a member of the APEC forum and the WTO and it should promote its experiences through APEC so that other Asian economies and nations can benefit and sell its superior products to the world under the framework of the WTO, so that Taiwan will become an indispensable member of the world community.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods