Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday he had discussed the possibility of Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on the sidelines of the recent APEC summit in Lima, Peru.
Lien, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) envoy to the summit, met Hu last Friday in what Lien described as “a meeting between old friends.”
They met for about 40 minutes at Hu’s hotel.
“One of the new issues my old friend [Hu] and I discussed was the WHA ... Although Hu did not specifically emphasize the WHA issue, he did reiterate China’s willingness to negotiate Taiwan’s participation in international affairs,” Lien said at a press conference at the Presidential Office.
Lien and his delegation returned from the trip yesterday and reported to Ma before speaking to the press.
Under the Ma administration, Taiwan gave up seeking full WHO membership this year, focusing on efforts to obtain observer status at the annual WHA meeting in May.
Lien said one of the five points in the communique he signed with Hu in 2005 was that Taiwan and China should exchange opinions and negotiate on Taiwan’s participation in international affairs.
Taiwan’s WHA bid will be discussed in cross-strait negotiations, but Lien dismissed allegations that China would only help with Taiwan’s WHA bid after the implementation of direct links.
Lien said the recent cross-strait talks were resumed under the framework of the “1992 consensus” and the concept of one China, with each side having its own interpretation, and it would be unnecessary to further stress it during future talks.
In addition to continuing to seek to sign free trade agreements with other countries, Lien said Taiwan would also be cooperate with the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asian Pacific Region (FTAAP) and other proposed multilateral trade agreements.
Lien said that in his meeting with Ma, he had conveyed world leaders’ expectations for Taiwan to maintain peaceful relations with China.
“Many leaders, including the US president, shared the same view on cross-strait relations, which is no unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo,” he said.
Lien said he also discussed solutions to the global economic slowdown with US President George W. Bush and other leaders, and expressed the country’s willingness to cooperate with other countries in confronting the financial crisis.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS