Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday she would not rule out visiting China as the founder of Formosa Weekly (玉山週報).
While introducing the newspaper’s trial issue yesterday, Lu condemned President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for embracing the concept of “one China” despite the military threat from Beijing.
Lu had planned to print a daily newspaper, the Formosa Post (玉山午報), but changed it to a weekly paper because of funding problems. An online version of the weekly paper and the Formosa Post will be launched in the future, she told a press conference at her office.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
When asked to comment on whether she would visit China in her new role as a newspaper publisher, Lu said she would discuss the matter with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and make sure any such visit would not damage Taiwan’s dignity.
“I am not against [visiting China], but there’s no timetable. I don’t have to go,” she said.
Lu sparked debate within the DPP over her apparent willingness to visit China with some party members strongly opposed to any trip.
Lu said that she and her staff do not hold any positions in the DPP and she had founded the newspaper as an ordinary citizen.
The trial issue, which hit the newsstands yesterday, covered the problems the DPP faces as an opposition party and the Ma administration’s efforts to develop nuclear power plants.
The next trial issue will be available on May 20, and the official launch of the Formosa Post is scheduled for July 1, the former vice president said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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