Taiwanese must fully understand that the Beijing authorities' desire to reduce Taiwan to the lowest level of government administration lies at the heart of the possible signing of a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with Taiwan through the mediation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The CEPA that China has introduced in Hong Kong and Macao eliminates import taxes on farm goods and other products from these two places.
"The CEPA is a sweet dessert from Beijing to both Hong Kong and Macao. Now China wants to offer this `gift' to Taiwan through Lien Chan in a bid to send a clear message to Taiwanese people that, in its eyes, the status of Taiwan equals that of Hong Kong and Macau; they are all its local jurisdictions," Lu said.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
"Do all [Taiwan's] 23 million people accept this? If we take this small piece of sweet dessert, we might inadvertently create a `big cake' [of opportunities] for China," she said.
"Taiwan can't be and refuses to be downgraded," she said.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday urged the government to point out that Lien would be in violation of the law if he signs any form of agreement with China.
"Lien Chan has not been legally authorized to sign any pact with China," TSU Secretary-General Chen Chien-ming (
Chen said that Lien should promote Taiwan's democracy and liberty in China than "let Communism destroy the Three Principles of the People."
Chen said that China released several political dissidents because of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit.
"We strongly urge Lien Chan to ask China to improve its bad human-rights record by releasing more political dissidents," Chen said.
He said that the TSU had no comment on Lien's visit to his ancestral home in China.
"However, Lien should never sacrifice the Taiwanese people's common interests," Chen said.
He said that after Lien returns to Taiwan, the TSU would never let him abuse his influence in the Legislative Yuan to promote any agreement he signed with China.
"Please stop dreaming of turning Taiwan's Legislative Yuan into China's legislative bureau," Chen said.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a