A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation is slated to depart for China on Monday to pay homage to KMT patriarch Sun Yat-sen (
The KMT confirmed yesterday that former deputy legislative speaker and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight Chiang Pin-kun (
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
It is believed that the delegation might also have plans to visit Beijing, as the trip comes on the heels of Beijing's recent passage of the "Anti-Secession" Law, legislation that China believes authorizes the use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan. The delegation's departure will also come just two days after a March 26 rally protesting the Anti-Secession Law.
KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (
She said that KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (
Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) also said yesterday that it had not been in contact with the KMT regarding the visit, according to a report in Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po.
An unnamed TAO official was quoted in the report as saying that the office had learned of the trip from media reports only.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the government agency responsible for the nation's China policy, has refrained from commenting on the KMT's trip. Following the passage of the Anti-Secession Law, the council has said on several occasions that it would not impose any restrictions on those wishing to travel to China, but added that anyone who visits China does so at their own risk.
While the KMT has made clear that the main purpose of its impending trip is to mark the death of Sun, the party has in the past sent delegations to China to discuss state affairs.
The KMT had sent a delegation to Beijing and met with TAO officials just as cross-strait dialogue on Lunar New Year charter flights got underway.
At the time, while a trip to China by the government-authorized Taipei Airlines Association had been shrouded in secrecy, the KMT delegation was given a high profile welcome.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
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