President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday he would not mind if China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) addresses him as “Mr Ma” when the Chinese official visits Taiwan later this year.
Ma made the remark in response to a question from a reporter about how Ma and Chen would address each other.
Chen has accepted Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung’s (江丙坤) invitation to visit Taipei later this year after their meeting in Beijing last week for negotiations on direct cross-strait flights and allowing more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
During Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s (吳伯雄) visit to China earlier this month, Wu referred to the Taiwanese president as “Mr Ma” at his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Ma said yesterday the “best way” would be for him to call the ARATS chief “Mr Chen,” while Chen could call him “Mr Ma.”
He said he did not think it would denigrate the country’s sovereignty as long as both sides are on an “equal footing.”
Ma said the agreement Chen and Chiang signed did not include dates because it was a well-established practice between the SEF and ARATS to leave the dates involved in an agreement to a later time.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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