Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration should not "close" Taiwan to interaction with China in the long term.
Ma made the remarks a day after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) reiterated that a government policy of "not accrediting university diplomas issued by China and banning Taiwan's universities from recruiting Chinese students" would not be changed during the remainder of his term in office.
Addressing the opening of a southern Taiwan university and graduate institute exposition held at the Business Exhibition Center in Kaohsiung City, Chen said if the doors were opened there could be an adverse impact on the nation's employment market.
In response, Ma said yesterday that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait need more interaction, stressing that if the DPP government is still reluctant to open doors to China, all efforts by different sectors to help promote cross-strait exchanges would be in vain.
The pace and manner of opening the nation to Chinese students or allowing Taiwanese students to pursue studies in China could be discussed, but it was unwise for the government to adopt a long-term closed-door policy, Ma said.
He warned that if the DPP government continued to block interaction with China, Taiwan would not only be unable to reach out, but that it could also fall behind economically.
Ma made the remarks during an interview with reporters after attending an international seminar held by United Way Taiwan (UWT) to mark its 15th anniversary. UWT is a non-profit organization devoted to pooling resources to satisfy community needs.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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