Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) denied yesterday that the government had set a timetable for unification in 2016.
“I do not have any knowledge of and have never heard of such a timetable,” Liu said in response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) during the legislature’s plenary session.
Wu asked Liu if President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government had drawn up plans to seek unification with China in 2016 as Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) had implied in recent remarks.
Huang has told reporters that he believed China would refrain from raising sensitive political issues during Ma’s current term and do its best to help Ma win reelection in 2012.
Then Beijing could begin pressuring Ma after 2012 to move toward unification in 2016, which would be the final year of Ma’s second term in office, Huang said.
Liu told Wu he did not understand why Huang would make such statements.
Despite Liu’s comments, Wu urged the National Security Council (NSC) and the National Security Bureau (NSB) to investigate if such a timetable was stipulated in any confidential documents.
Liu also told Wu that the government had not drawn up any timetable for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) with China, either.
The government’s plan to pursue a CECA with China has sparked a public uproar as activists fear the administration could compromise Taiwan’s sovereignty and move one step closer to unification.
“The Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are discussing details of the plan,” Liu said.
Liu also apologized to the public again for the rising unemployment rate, but his apology did not stop Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (賴清德)from paralyzing the plenary session.
“I hereby apologize to you [and the public] for failing to accomplish things we promised,” Liu said.
He then lashed out at opposition lawmakers who refused to allow him to brief the legislature on Friday about the government’s special budget request for public work investment unless the premier apologized for the poor state of the economy.
“The opposition demanded to be allowed to screen the wording of my apology [before I could brief the legislature]. This was totally unreasonable. No premier would take an insult such as this,” Liu said.
Unhappy with Liu’s answer, Lai refused to leave the podium after his allotted 15-minute question-and-answer session was over.
He paralyzed the plenary session for about an hour and efforts by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to mediate were unsuccessful.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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