The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation's just-concluded visit to China will be used by Beijing in its strategy to undermine the sovereignty of Republic of China, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official said yesterday.
"The government has its own timetable in cross-strait exchanges and remains in control of cross-strait issues," DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
"China gains the upper hand when the KMT goes and inks agreements with Beijing, and then returns to Taiwan and reports to the government afterward," Lee said.
"Taiwan's national interests and the people's well-being would be undermined as a result," Lee said.
The 10-point agreement reached between the KMT and Beijing covers a wide range of cross-strait issues, including direct charter flights, agricultural cooperation, tourism, protection for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and the opening of the Chinese financial market.
Noting that the so-called 10-point proposal was not approved by the government but was nonetheless inked by the KMT and the CCP, Lee said the agreement therefore "in no way can it represent the 23 million people of Taiwan."
"With that in mind, we can't help but ask the KMT: Is Taiwan anarchy? Does the Taiwanese government no longer exist?" Lee said.
The DPP official also said the KMT had become a tool of Beijing to carry out its so-called "united front" tactics against Taiwan.
KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun's (
The visit gives Beijing a free hand in selecting which party it would like negotiate with and is thus oblivious to the feelings of the 23 million Taiwanese people, Lee said.
It also undermines Taiwan's democracy, he added.
"What' the difference between this [Beijing talking to its preferred party] and it treatment of its administrative regions, such as Hong Kong?" he said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS