The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday Taiwan and China should exchange special envoys serving as both sides' official communication channels now that the presidential election is over.
The exchange of envoys, first put forth by President Chen Shui-bian (
Jan Jyh-horng (
The envoys could also reduce the chance of conflict.
MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
Jan, in a speech to council officials yesterday, urged Beijing to learn more about Taiwan's ever-evolving democracy.
Only through dialogue and communication with Taipei can Beijing really understand what is happening in Taiwan, he said.
The spirit of Chen's "five noes" pledge, which included a promise not to declare independence during his term, is to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Jan said.
He said he was not sure whether Chen would repeat the "five noes" pledge in his second term. However, he noted the government's cross-strait policies would not change much because of Chen's "campaign language."
Optimistic about the development of cross-strait relations, Jan said government policies are unlikely to change because of the president's personal remarks.
The council's team working on the "peace and stability framework" had designed the proposal in order to maintain the status quo, he said.
Jan noted that although Bei-jing has kept a low profile regarding this year's election, it has blasted Taiwan's referendum as a tool to achieve independence.
Jan said China's media harshly criticized Chen during the presidential campaign to satisfy Beijing's desire to brand the president as a separatist.
"It is a system of education to fool its people," he said.
In the past, China did not allow other countries to get involved in cross-strait affairs. But this year it actively lobbied the international community to pressure Taiwan over the referendum issue, he said.
Taiwan faced "unprecedented diplomatic pressure" because of China's strategy to get other countries to speak against the referendum, Jan said.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS