President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday countered public concern over his cross-strait policy, saying improved cross-strait relations had strengthened the nation's sovereignty and enhanced its international profile.
Ma said those who are worried that better cross-strait ties would compromise “the sovereignty of the Republic of China” and “dignity of Taiwan” simply worried too much.
“When we improve cross-strait relations, we also restore mutual trust with Washington,” he said. “The nation's sovereignty was not weakened but rather strengthened. I am very confident about that, and I believe you think the same.”
Ma made the remarks while addressing a Lunar New Year gathering of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople in Tainan City.
Ma dismissed allegations that Washington and Tokyo were uneasy about the country's closer ties with Beijing, saying that his new cross-strait approach has been “universally welcomed.”
As the most recent dialogue between Washington and Beijing did not mention Taiwan, Ma said some might find it unusual, but in fact, “no news is good news.”
“It means it is normal and it is peaceful. It is the goal that we are striving for,” he said. “It is common sense that constant squabbling over Taiwan is bad for foreign investment in Taiwan.”
Touting Taiwan's geographical advantage, Ma said deregulation and liberalization would help build the country into a global innovation center and an Asian-Pacific business hub.
The country has wasted too much time on political disputes over the years, he said, adding that since he took office in May, he has gradually removed the obstructions and pushed for an economic restructuring.
Unfortunately, the global economic downturn has dealt a blow to the local economy, he said.
While cross-strait deregulation measures were not as effective as the administration had expected, Ma said they offered local businesses more alternatives and leverage.
“We never said China is our only hope,” Ma said. “The Chinese market is just a part of it.”
Saying the direction of his cross-strait policy was correct, Ma promised to stay the course and urged the opposition parties to support government policies that serve national and public interests.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) told reporters at the same setting that he expected to see both sides reach a consensus on at least four issues during the third cross-strait high-level talks, scheduled to be held in the first half of the year. They are financial cooperation, two-way investment, joint efforts to combat crime and regular aviation flights.
Chiang said the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) had authorized the foundation to negotiate with its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, on the four issues.
The comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA), however, is not on the agenda of the forthcoming talks because it is a complicated matter.
MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said that both sides would begin the negotiation process as soon as they are ready. The administration will conduct the negotiations in a stable and practical manner, she said, and hopefully agreements will be signed.
As it is government policy to further normalize cross-strait trade, Lai said, the administration would examine and relax cross-strait regulations, hoping to build Taiwan into a management base and regional business hub.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching