President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) this week called on the US to sign a free-trade agreement and bilateral extradition treaty with Taiwan, and to grant visa-free entry to Taiwanese tourists.
In an hour-long interview with the New York Times on Thursday, Ma said he was glad to have reduced tensions with China and that he expected the US to make a positive response to the three issues.
The president said he was not concerned that Taiwan was low on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s list of priorities during her scheduled three-day visit to Beijing from next Friday, but called on Clinton to support the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait during her visit.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The lessening of tensions with China “is good news for everyone; we are not dissatisfied with the fact they did not mention Taiwan,” Ma said in the interview.
He had made similar remarks earlier this month in response to Washington and Beijing having made no mention of Taiwan in recent dialogue, when he said that “no news is good news.”
Clinton will also visit Tokyo, Jakarta and Seoul on her Asia trip next week. Climate change, energy, North Korea, Tibet, Iran and economic issues are expected to top her agenda in Beijing.
Ma said he would carry out his campaign promise of making Taiwan a peacemaker, rather than a troublemaker, in the region and vowed to seek closer economic relations with China.
While acknowledging that the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit Taiwan every day was lower than expected, Ma said the nation’s economy continued to rely heavily on China, and so more cross-strait economic measures, including regular flights to China, would be implemented.
Ma’s administration had forecast the implementation of weekend charter flights would attract 3,000 Chinese tourists per day in the initial stages, with the number expected to grow to 10,000 per day within four years.
Actual arrivals, however, remain at around 500 to 600 per day.
Recent moves to let Chinese tourists remain in the country for up to 15 days instead of 10, and to arrive in groups of as few as five people instead of the current 10-person minimum, could help increase their numbers, Ma said.
The Ma administration has also opened up charter flights, shipping and investment, and the president has said he expected regularly scheduled flights to China by the middle of this year as well.
Ma expressed confidence about the nation’s economic outlook, and said his administration will continue to carry out his economic promises in an attempt to improve the economy, including implementing scheduled flights to China this year and expanding domestic demand.
He said the economy would grow if Taiwan’s main export markets recovered. In the meantime, the government is rapidly stepping up spending on roads, bridges and schools and other infrastructure projects that Ma promised to build during his election campaign.
“This is high time to go fiscal — let’s get fiscal,” he said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS