Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma made the remarks when meeting with members of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council in Tokyo, the Central News Agency reported.
The council, better known as the Nikkakon (
PHOTO: AFP
During the meeting, Ma said he would pursue a policy of "no unification, no independence and no armed conflicts" if elected next year.
The presidential candidate said he would neither hold unification negotiations with China, nor support independence for Taiwan.
Ma said he would maintain the "status quo" in cross-strait relations, but would seek to negotiate with China on "normalizing economic ties, signing a peace treaty and increasing Taiwan's presence in the international community."
The presidential hopeful added that he would ask China to dismantle the ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan before attempting any peace negotiations.
"We will be a responsible stakeholder. We will never unilaterally change the `status quo' and risk regional instability," Ma was quoted as saying.
Ma said he would try to enhance the relationship between Taiwan and Japan, and would make signing of a free trade agreement one of his objectives.
The former KMT chairman said on Wednesday that his visit to Japan was intended in part to alleviate concerns there that he is "anti-Japanese."
"I am neither anti-Japan nor pro-Japan. I hope to understand Japan and I hope the Japanese people will get to know me," Ma told a press conference on Tuesday.
Ma was scheduled to hold a news conference at a Tokyo hotel today before returning home later in the day, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office said.
Asked for his take on Ma's comments, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said in Taipei yesterday that it was difficult to comment on Ma's remarks because the KMT presidential candidate "changes his mind too much."
Hsieh said it was confusing that Ma was now saying that he doesn't want to pursue unification whereas this had once been his stated goal.
Additional reporting by AP and AFP
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS