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
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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