Opposition legislators yesterday suggested both sides of the Taiwan Strait should get together to research the history of China' s war against Japan and battles fought between the Chinese communists and the Nationalists, saying that doing so could help promote a better cross-strait understanding.
"One of the major reasons for today's stagnant cross-strait relations is the lack of mutual understanding," KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (
"A joint academic effort to reassess and verify the archives of historical battles could help offer a new channel for cross-strait dialogue and thus promote bilateral understanding and enhance a constructive cross-strait interaction," he said.
Chen made the remarks at a public hearing which he co-hosted with PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) and to which a number of academics and Ministry of Defense officials were invited to take part.
According to Chen, cross-strait historical archive work is needed as there are many historical accounts and names regarding the Anti-Aggression War and the Chinese civil war that are inconsistent between Taiwan and China.
"To work together to straighten these historic records will not only promote interaction of academics from both sides of the Strait, it can also reduce animosity as both sides gain a better mutual understanding," Lin said.
The Anti-Aggression War began in 1937 and lasted till 1945. The battle between between the communists and the Nationalists ended in 1949 when the communists took Beijing and the KMT-led government moved to Taiwan.
The legislators said that they would work to push for the government to set up a task force to deal with this project and to support it financially.
Chen Yung-fa (
However, Hu Chu (
"Otherwise, you might run the risk of complicating cross-strait relations by compromising your historical accounts or letting [the project] become a propaganda tool of China to accomplish its unification call," Hu said.
However, the TSU's Department of Culture and Information chief Hsiao Kwan-yu (蕭貫譽) said he didn't think the idea would help enhance relations.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai