Hoping to hammer out the details of People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (
"The PFP is working for the future of cross-strait relations and to facilitate dialogue between the governments [of China and Taiwan]. We are exerting all our efforts for the Taiwanese people to make a contribution to this land," Chin said yesterday before departing for Beijing via Hong Kong.
At the airport yesterday morning, Chin also said that Soong's trip to China is being made as the chairman of a Taiwanese opposition party and in the spirit of the so-called "1992 consensus."
Accompanying Chin on his trip yesterday were PFP Legislator Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), party policy department head Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), deputy head of the PFP's administrative department Yeh Chia-yu (葉家宇) and deputy communications department head Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉).
In a statement released by the party Saturday night about Chin's departure, the PFP reiterated its previous stance on Soong's upcoming journey to China. With Taiwan as its top priority and cross-strait peace as its core principle, the PFP hopes to negotiate with China under an atmosphere of mutual respect and sincerity after consolidating the views of both the governing and opposition camps, the statement said.
Soong is expected to visit China within the first 10 days of May. His trip will come on the heels of a similar trip by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
On the KMT side yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
In regards to the president's attitude on the so-called "1992 consensus," more time is needed to see change, Ma said.
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