The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday it would re-examine government policy on officials attending events such as today’s celebrations marking 60 years of communist rule in China.
MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said there was no law against someone like Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Vice Chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄), who is also chairman of the Kinpo Group, attending the celebrations.
Lai said she was informed that Hsu was in China, but added that the council did not know whether Hsu would attend the event.
“But we don’t encourage it,” Lai said. “He must take public perceptions into consideration.”
MAC Deputy Minister Chao Chien-min (趙建民) said the council would nevertheless look into the matter if any SEF official were to attend the celebrations.
In any event, Chao said, the council would set clear guidelines for similar situations.
Because Hsu is not visiting China in an official capacity, the council was in no position to make any demands or issue a reprimand upon his return, he said.
However, Chao said, Hsu “should think twice about engaging in any political activity.”
Chao said that since the SEF is a semi-official institution and Hsu is also chairman of a private company, it was not necessary for him to inform the council of his schedule in advance, nor was the council in any position to inquire about it.
Meanwhile, Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) yesterday told members of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that no retired generals from Taiwan would participate in China’s National Day activities.
In related news, Lai yesterday confirmed that MAC Deputy Minister Fu Dong-cheng (傅棟成) would resign and leave the civil service for personal reasons.
Lai said although she would very much like Fu to stay, he had decided to leave.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS