China's willingness to deal with the "Travel Agency Association of the Republic of China, Taiwan" in talks for opening up the nation to Chinese tourists is a breakthrough in cross-strait relations, a Mainland Affairs Council official said yesterday.
The official said the development demonstrated that cross-strait negotiations are not necessarily always complicated and a deal on Chinese tourists could be reached so long as both sides can set aside their differences, lay no preconditions, and act pragmatically.
Fu Don-cheng (
Following the council's June 28 announcement that the Chinese authorities had agreed to deal with the association, local Chinese-language newspapers reported on June 30 that the title of the association might hinder the proceedings, as Chinese officials were unhappy about the "Republic of China" phrase in its title.
The reports also said that the association had prepared to alter its title to conform to Chinese demands, and offered alternative titles such as the "Association of Travel Agents of Taiwan." But the head of the association, Tseng Sheng-hai (
Fu said that he didn't think it was a good idea to discuss the title of the association, noting that doing so would politicize the issue.
"The method by which direct Lunar New Year flights were negotiated is a very good reference for the tourism negotiations," Fu said.
Chiu Tai-san (
Echoing Chiu, Fu said that only when both sides are willing to open Taiwan to Chinese tourists and set aside unimportant matters, such as the formal title of the association, will a consensus on the issue be reached.
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