Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) yesterday suggested that the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) expand its services to include expatriates from the People’s Republic of China.
Wang made the remarks during a speech before 180 board members of the OCAC, who returned to the country to attend its annual conference in Taipei.
“It doesn’t matter whether they are expatriates from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong or Macau, they should be regarded as a unit. Given the increasing number of Chinese expatriates, if you restricted your services to Taiwanese expatriates, I believe there wouldn’t be much left for you to do,” Wang said.
Wang said that Taiwan could win over Chinese expatriates by extending good services and showing them care, adding that the OCAC should focus more on love than the issue of unification versus independence.
“Under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), we have seen a significant improvement in cross-strait relationships. If it continues to develop, the Nobel Peace Prize will one day be awarded to the people of the Republic of China,” Wang said.
Wang said love was the basis for Ma’s cross-strait policy and the starting point from which to develop cross-strait peace.
All political leaders and OCAC board members should work to bring better lives to people on both sides of the Strait, Wang told the audience, adding that: “Taiwan will succeed when it becomes an island of love.”
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday