Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) expressed hope yesterday that a soon-to-begin cross-strait agricultural forum will not have a negative impact on Taiwan's agricultural sector.
Fielding questions at the Legislative Yuan, Wu said he expects the forum, scheduled to be held today and tomorrow in Boao, Hainan Island, would be helpful to Taiwanese farmers and fishermen rather than having a disastrous impact on Taiwan's agricultural sector in the long run.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) honorary chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, will reportedly attend the forum, which is being sponsored by the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Both Taiwan's official and private sectors are watching closely to see whether a consensus will be reached that would benefit Taiwan's farmers.
On Sunday, MAC Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) urged Beijing to respect the intellectual property rights of Taiwan's farmers and create a regular mechanism as a conduit for solving cross-strait agricultural disputes. He said the KMT should use the forum to demand that China impose strict controls on intellectual property rights infringements on Taiwanese products.
He said it is also hoped that the KMT and CCP delegates will talk about the establishment of a regular dialogue mechanism to allow officials from the two sides to regularly exchange views to help resolve cross-strait agricultural disputes.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard