Government officials reacted cautiously to former Chinese president Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) resignation from the chairmanship of China's Central Military Commission yesterday and warned against excessive optimism in cross-strait developments after Jiang's departure.
Jiang's resignation and Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) succession to China's top military post sparked a flurry of reactions among Taiwanese officials. "This vital step probably won't affect Beijing's Taiwan policy," said Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council. Any change in China's Taiwan policy is likely to remain unclear until the after the US presidential election and Taiwan's legislative elections are concluded, Chiu said. Jiang's move consolidated the leadership of Hu and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), according to Chiu.
"China will possibly set economic development as the country's top priority, but if this is true, it remains to be seen whether Taiwan will remain high on Beijing's priority list," he said.
The new leadership in Beijing, added Chiu, bears more good than bad news to Taiwan. The leaders tend to make group decisions, which would prevent the government from making hasty decisions, Chiu added.
"Although Jiang has stepped down, he still retains a certain level of influence. It is unlikely Hu would be able to fully control the military, making China's Taiwan policy virtually unchangeable in the short term," said Cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
"Jiang's Eight Points" principle will remain the guideline for Beijing's policy toward Taiwan, according to Chen.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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