A pan-green majority in the legislature will be conducive to improved cross-strait ties and bring about political stability, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
"If the pan-green camp manages to secure a majority in the Legislative Yuan, China will have to divest itself of the illusion that the pan-blue camp will return to power. China would then be more willing to sit down with the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] and the pan-green camp," Wu said yesterday during an international press conference.
Wu went on to demonstrate that despite concerns that political moves instigated by the ruling DPP would threaten cross-strait ties, President Chen Shui-bian (
"In 2000, when Chen was elected president, everyone was afraid that war and a formal declaration of independence was imminent ? But that hasn't happened," Wu said.
"Our overall policy is one of goodwill, active cooperation, and lasting peace. You can't go wrong with this," Wu said.
In an attempt to assuage fears that the push for a pan-green majority and Chen's proposal for constitutional reform would destabilize cross-strait relations, Wu said the moves were part of the nation's democratization.
"Taiwan is a new democracy and there are many lingering issues left behind by past authorities," Wu said, adding that the national emblem closely resembles that of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and that the national anthem was the KMT's anthem.
"Our pursuit of democratization has nothing to do with changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," Wu said.
Wu said that the chance for negotiations and constitutional reform were not mutually exclusive.
"But we will explain the process so as to minimize the impact," he said of constitutional reform.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
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A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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