Government officials responded cautiously yesterday to a front-page story in Singapore's Straits Times that said Beijing was ready to accept Taiwan has existed as a separate entity since 1949.
The daily quoted Li Jiaquan (李家泉), former head of the Taiwan Research Institute in Beijing, as saying China's leadership recognizes the reality of Taiwan, but that this does not amount to it "giving up on the `one China' principle."
The Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they needed to check the details of the story and had no comments.
Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
On Tuesday the council had dismissed rumors that Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
Meanwhile, Zhang Mingqing (
"I haven't heard of the idea. We are not considering doing so," Zhang said, adding Li's personal opinion does not reflect official thinking.
Zhang noted that since TAO officials are currently on vacation -- the nationwide weeklong Labor Day holiday began last Saturday -- the office would not be able to make a formal response to the report until May 12.
The report, however, said Li made it clear that Beijing knew what he was going to say.
"I can say things which they [Beijing officials] cannot and will not say publicly," the paper quoted Li as saying.
Meanwhile, the hint that Beijing might be ready to recognize the existence of the ROC was welcomed, with some restraint, by officials in this country familiar with cross-strait affairs.
With the inauguration only two weeks away, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chung-hsin (
The legislator has been a close friend of Li for more than a decade and said Li frequently makes stunning remarks.
He questioned how much Li's comments reflected Beijing's official attitude, given that Li retired from his academic career in 1994.
Some Key government officials in Beijing might share Li's opinion and if so, slight changes in China's cross-strait policies might be expected, the lawmaker said.
"But surely the policy changes will not include acceptance of Taiwan as a separate entity," he said, adding that it's risky to speculate on Beijing's real intention based upon a single media report.
The lawmaker responded guardedly to Beijing's definition of the status quo as given by Li in the report.
"For the time being, we can go along with the present status quo, which we define as `two sides, one country,'" Li said.
Contents of Beijing's "one China" principle are far more complicated than the status quo point made by Li, Chen Chung-hsin said.
Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said a key test of Beijing's position will be at the World Health Assembly (WHA) this month in Geneva.
Taiwan is making its eighth consecutive application for observer status -- as a "health entity" -- at the World Health Organization at the WHA meeting, which opens May 17. China has blocked the previous attempts.
"The WHA will be the place to test whether China really means what it says," Hsiao said.
"Actions speak louder than words," she said.
However, she said Li's comments in the Singaporean newspaper, demonstrated some signs of flexibility.
Also See Story:
Editorial: Sands of time shift under pan-blues
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS