Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Wu made the remarks at the Legislative Yuan's Home and Nations Committee one day before Lien is set to conclude his eight-day China visit.
Commenting on the matter on Sunday, Chen said Lien had behaved with propriety as an opposition leader because he had honored his promise and did not sign any agreement involving government affairs with China.
Wu said the president's comment should not be mistaken as an endorsement for the conclusions of the Lien-Hu talks, pointing out that Lien did not assert the sovereignty of the Republic of China and express Taiwan's objection to the "Anti-Secession" Law during the talks.
Wu said the government respects the different viewpoints held by different political parties and believes that it was not against the law for the KMT to release a news statement to outline the main points of the Lien-Hu talks in written form.
On Hu's proposals that Taiwan and China should establish political trust, enhance economic cooperation, open negotiations on an equal footing and encourage cross-strait civic exchanges, Wu dismissed the overtures as containing nothing new.
Although China is promoting exchanges with Taiwan, it still firmly opposes Taiwan independence and sticks to the "one China" principle, Wu noted.
According to Wu, by inviting Lien to visit China, Beijing was trying to bring down the pressure from the international community in the wake of the enactment of its Anti-Secession Law that threatens the use of non-peaceful means against Taiwan.
In the face of China's international isolation of Taiwan and military threat, a consensus on cross-strait policy is required among various political parties, Wu said.
As to People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (
With Soong having had two meetings with Chen over the past two months and having reached a 10-point agreement with the president, the government is not worried about his China trip, Wu said.
However, he said, Soong's trip is not being made under the government's authorization and that Soong only represents the PFP.
Wu said he believes it is the expectation of the majority of people in Taiwan that Chen can visit China under the principles of equality, peace and dignity and discuss cross-strait issues with China leaders.
Chen said Sunday that he had asked Soong to pass on some messages to Hu but did not elaborate what the messages were.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching