Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday again urged China to break the deadlock in negotiations on currency exchange and the opening up of Taiwan to Chinese tourists.
The government hopes to see new policies implemented as soon as possible but the council cannot act unilaterally, Wu said.
"The timetable is hard because we need China's open and sincere contact with us," Wu said at a New Year press conference yesterday held to wrap up on the progress of the Council's cross-strait initiatives last year.
Opening up the exchange of the yuan in Taiwan will be linked to any policy that boosts the number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan, Wu said
If Chinese tourists were permitted to visit Taiwan, the council would allow them to bring about 20,000 yuan (US$ 2,500) into the country per trip, Wu said.
He said that Chinese yuan is circulating underground in Taiwan, which is not only harmful to Taiwan's economy but also infringes Taiwan's sovereignty.
"Using the currency that represents Taiwan's sovereignty is showing respect to the country," Wu said. "Therefore, if Chinese tourists come to visit Taiwan, they have to use the NT dollar."
Both sides are still discussing the details related to the two policies and nothing can be revealed before concrete conclusions are reached due to a " tacit agreement" between Taiwan and China, Wu said.
He also urged China to stop its crackdown on human rights groups and to lift censorship on the Internet and the suppression of press freedom.
Wu also queried China's claims that Taiwanese reporters will enjoy flexible regulations when covering next year's Olympic Games as China ignores demands for press freedom.
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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