Taiwan's mayors and county commissioners split across party lines yesterday in reaction to the passage of China's "anti-secession" law, although they were united in their opposition to the legislation.
The pan-green camp issued a joint statement signed by 17 regional leaders, while the pan-blue camp held an international press conference to publicize their "open letter" of protest.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The movement to consolidate the views of Taiwan's regional leaders began when acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (
The two documents signed yesterday highlighted the differences between political camps, despite their common position in the face of the passage of the anti-secession law. All 14 of the nation's pan-blue regional leaders or their representatives showed up at yesterday's Taipei City Government press conference to sign Ma's open letter. Six of the 17 signatories of the Chen-initiated statement, meanwhile, were pan-blue regional chiefs who also co-signed Ma's open letter.
Regardless of differences in political motives, both the open letter initiated by Ma and the statement drafted by Chen emphasized that China needs to recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of China (ROC), that the anti-secession law clearly goes against the will of the Taiwanese people and that the anti-secession law cannot help the cross-strait situation.
In Chen's joint statement, titled "Safeguarding Democracy and Peace, Opposing Military Annexation: An Objection to China's Anti-Secession Law," the crux of the problem in cross-strait relations was identified as China's refusal to recognize the ROC's sovereignty, China's use of its military might and missiles to threaten the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and its use of aggressive means to sabotage Taiwan's international standing.
The statement also says that developing cross-strait peace and stability is not only the universal goal of the international community but also the common hope of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The joint statement urged Beijing to be prudent regarding enacting the "ill-intended" legislation.
Ma's letter to the international community, on the other hand, added that the majority of the Taiwanese people support the status quo, while emphasizing that it is only a minority of people that advocate Taiwanese independence.
During his press conference yesterday, Ma evaded questions asking why he did not sign the statement initiated by Chen, although some of the other pan-blue leaders present at the international press conference yesterday did.
Ma also used the press conference to clarify that he will attend the March 26 rally initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He has already made his position on the anti-secession law clear in previous comments and in yesterdays open letter, Ma said. There is no further need for him to attend any activities to express his views, he said.
Meanwhile, Hu said he was still reserving judgment on whether or not he would attend the event.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS