People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) will begin his landmark journey to China on May 5, the party said yesterday, adding that the agenda for his trip is still being hammered out.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the PFP said the preliminary results of party secretary-general Chin Chin-sheng's (秦金生) working trip to China have Soong leaving for Xian, China on May 5 and returning from Beijing to Taiwan on May 12. All other details are still being settled by Chin in China, the statement read.
Chin left for Beijing on Sunday with other PFP personnel to discuss the details of Soong's upcoming trip with Chinese authorities. According to the party, Chin was received by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), the chairman of China's People's Political Consultative Conference, on Sunday night. The two spoke until 4am the next morning about the details of the trip, the party said.
Jia last month invited Soong and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to visit Beijing in their capacity as party chairmen. While Lien is leaving on his trip to China today, the PFP waited until last week to formally accept and begin planning their trip.
During the meeting on Sunday, Jia expressed his respect for the PFP's long-term efforts to facilitate cross-strait relations and cross-strait peace, the statement said.
"This is the first time officials from the PFP and the CCP have come in contact. Both sides understand that there are numerous difficulties involved in improving cross-strait relations, but both also expect to gradually break through those difficulties," the statement read.
Given the similar natures and origin of their trips, Lien and Soong's trips have been widely compared by the media.
Lien said at a press conference yesterday morning that while he does not know the specifics of the PFP trip, the KMT welcomes any efforts to facilitate cross-strait peace and dialogue.
Chin is set to return from China tomorrow.
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
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do