The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) chairman yesterday vowed he would request Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman-designate Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) withdraw from her position if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration fails to uphold the basic principles it promised to the party when dealing with cross-strait relations.
“As a responsible opposition party, we will continue to monitor the performance of the KMT government closely,” said TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝).
Huang said president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited him on Sunday night to ask for his approval of Lai’s appointment. Huang said they talked for about an hour and he laid down three principles for cross-strait policy, which Ma agreed with.
The KMT government must promise to safeguard national dignity, take care of the interest of the Taiwanese people and manifest Taiwan-centered consciousness, Huang said.
“We don’t have any problem with recalling her if the Ma administration violates those three principles,” Huang said. “For us, her recruitment to the new government is like one of our daughters marrying into a new family and we will not punish her, like other political parties, for joining the KMT government.”
Huang said Ma told him that he was impressed by Lai’s performance in the legislature, her clean image, professionalism and competence. Lai’s experience at the National Security Council, negotiation skills at the WTO and in-depth knowledge of cross-strait relations made an impression on Ma, Huang said.
Describing his conversation with Ma as “rational,” Huang said it ushered in a new era of politics and political cooperation. In order to promote unity and harmony among political parties, Huang said he proposed that Ma call regular meetings with party leaders. Huang said Ma did not give a definite answer but said his proposal deserved consideration.
Huang said that Lai was surprised at Ma’s offer but decided to join the KMT administration as a TSU member. She does not hold any party position and will not partake in any party-related activities in the future, Huang said.
While concern was raised over her political position, Huang said such concern was based on a lack of understanding of the TSU, which has transformed itself from embracing die-hard pro-independence to pursuing the “center left” path.
As for the attitude of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the spiritual leader of TSU, Huang said Lee thought a professional talent must serve the country, not just a party.
Meanwhile, Lai yesterday said that she shouldn’t have any problem cooperating with the KMT administration and pushing its cross-strait agenda because she sees eye to eye with the president-elect.
Lai said she agreed with Ma’s theory of “no unification, no independence and no military force” and concurred that the status quo of the Republic of China must be maintained.
She also agreed with Ma that cross-strait relations must develop on the foundation that Taiwan’s interest is put first, the people of Taiwan benefit from it and Taiwan-centered consciousness is protected.
Lai said while it was necessary to further ease restrictions on cross-strait trade, the government must minimize the negative impact.
When asked about the concerns over her appointment, Lai said that it was indeed a challenge and she would like to call on her opponents to judge her by her performance.
Regarding how the Mainland Affairs Council should cooperate with the Straits Exchange Foundation, Lai said they would each perform their individual duties under the legal framework.
As for Ma’s pledge to materialize weekend charter flights by July, Lai said that she was confident she could reach the goal but emphasized that it would also hinge on goodwill from Beijing.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
RSS