A delegation led by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) arrived in Taipei yesterday amid protests from independence supporters.
The ARATS delegation is to participate in a preparatory meeting for the upcoming third round of cross-strait talks.
The delegation and representatives of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) will hold a one-day meeting at the Taipei Grand Hyatt hotel today to discuss the time, venue and agenda for the upcoming meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his counterpart, ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in Nanjing, China.
PHOTO: CNA
Shouting “one country on each side,” a group of Democratic Progressive Party politicians and supporters yesterday scuffled with police during a demonstration at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
“I am here to welcome the guests from China. Why can’t I wait here to welcome our guests?” former Taoyuan County councilor Wu Pao-yu (吳寶玉) shouted at police.
The Taipei City Police Department deployed more than 600 police officers at the airport and around the hotel. Police prevented protesters from getting near the Chinese delegation.
Police officers escorted Zheng and his delegation of about 20 officials from the airport to the hotel without incident.
SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) welcomed the delegation at the hotel, saying the third round of talks between Chiang and Chen was expected to further promote cross-strait relations.
“Many of the issues to be negotiated in the third Chiang-Chen meeting carry great significance, and hopefully the negotiations will proceed with openness and sincerity,” Kao said.
Zheng, who had attended the previous Chiang-Chen meeting in November last year, said the four agreements signed during that meeting had made cross-strait exchanges more convenient.
Kao later hosted a dinner party in honor of the delegation at the hotel.
The preparatory meeting is aimed at discussing the agenda of the Chiang-Chen meeting.
The Taiwanese and Chinese officials are also expected to exchange ideas on the government’s proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China during the meeting today.
The government hopes to sign three memorandums of understanding on banking, securities and futures, and insurance with Beijing at the upcoming talks. Both sides have also engaged in discussions on currency exchange and a clearing mechanism for the yuan.
The delegation is scheduled to leave tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) told a media conference yesterday that government officials dealing with the talks would visit Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Monday.
Ministers and vice ministers of the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the central bank, as well as Lai’s deputy, would brief Wang on the preparatory meeting in a closed-door session on Monday, the MAC chief said.
Lai said that legislative caucus whips from all parties would also be invited to attend an informal meeting with Wang, adding that a formal briefing for all lawmakers on the Chiang-Chen talks would be held in the legislature’s Home and Nations Committee on Wednesday.
When asked whether the government would take into account opinions expressed by lawmakers in the two meetings if they are at odds with the government’s expectations, Lai said that the executive branch had the absolute right to decide on cross-strait negotiations based on the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
The two briefings were arranged to “show the MAC’s respect for the legislature” as the Act stipulates that cross-strait agreements could be reviewed in the legislature after they have been signed with China, Lai said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods