Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will ask Chinese authorities during his visit to China to remove missiles aimed at Taiwan, a KMT lawmaker said yesterday in Hong Kong.
Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who is also a member of the KMT's Central Standing Committee, made the remarks after attending a forum on cross-strait relations.
To the best of his understanding, Wu said Lien would bring up four main topics during his trip.
First, Wu said, Lien will ask Chinese authorities to eliminate barriers to cross-strait cultural and commercial exchanges, such as exempting or reducing tariffs on agricultural and industrial imports from Taiwan.
Second, Wu said, Lien will urge Beijing not to block Taiwan's entry to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"For the sake of epidemic prevention, Taiwan must be included in the WHO-led global health care system. If China continues to block Taiwan's WHO bid, it will draw a backlash from the Taiwan people and hinder the development of cross-strait rapprochement," Wu said.
Third, Wu said, Lien will push China to relocate the hundreds of ballistic missiles deployed in Fujian Province that are targeting Taiwan.
"If China indeed wants to make peace with Taiwan, it should relocate or dismantle its missiles aimed at Taiwan. Otherwise, the people of Taiwan will have ill feelings and doubts about Beijing's sincerity," Wu said.
Lien will ask the Chinese authorities to allow Chinese citizens to make sightseeing trips to Taiwan to promote civilian exchanges and mutual understanding, Wu said.
He said the KMT is willing to do whatever is conducive to Taiwanese people's well-being and cross-strait peace.
Wu delivered a speech on new developments in cross-strait relations at the seminar, sponsored by a federation of Taiwanese business associations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Addressing hundreds of Hong Kong academics, experts and business executives at the seminar, Wu said Hong Kong should strengthen exchanges with Taiwan to maintain its pivotal role in cross-strait engagements.
Wu said he believes that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai can strengthen cooperation in transshipment, trade, industrial investment and tourist development.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma said that he strongly believes that Lien will not sign any peace agreements with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Jintao (
Stressing that Lien's visit is aimed at maintaining peace, Ma said that Lien will speak for the people of Taiwan while seeking to help lay a foundation for cross-strait peace.
Lien's visit, planned for early next month, will mark the first KMT-CCP contact in more than 60 years. He is slated to meet Hu in Beijing, in addition to making stops in Nanjing, Xi'an and Shanghai.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS