Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) arrived in Taipei yesterday for a nine-day visit.
Zhang will attend an academic forum at Shih Chien University and travel to central and eastern Taiwan. However, he will stay away from southern Taiwan.
Zhang took part in an academic conference in Tainan City in October 2008 his capacity as dean of the school of journalism at Xiamen University in Fujian Province. He was jostled and jeered by pro-Taiwan politicians and activists during a private visit to the Confucius Temple in the city, ending up on the ground, before he was hustled into his car.
TV footage showed Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) of the Democratic Progressive Party shouting: “Taiwan wants independence” and “Taiwan is not part of China” during a shoving match with Zhang, who fell to the ground, losing his glasses.
It was not clear if Zhang tripped or was pushed.
Zhang later filed assault charges with Tainan police over the incident and immediately returned to China, cutting short his visit to Taiwan.
“I would welcome Mr Zhang Mingqing to take me all the way to court, but he then must recognize the legal jurisdiction of the Republic of China,” Wang said at the time, adding that he did not hit anyone, but that he had been trying to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty following Zhang’s statement “no Taiwan independence, no war,” which Wang said was extremely unfriendly and offensive to Taiwan.
In September last year, Wang was sentenced to four months in prison. He paid a fine of NT$1,000 daily for four months to end the case. Six others were also sentenced to prison terms ranging from 40 days to four months after being indicted on charges of hindering personal freedom. All of them had the option of paying a fine instead of serving their prison terms.
When asked about the sentence, Zhang yesterday said he respected Taiwan’s judiciary.
In other news, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was not panacea, but that it would help usher in Taiwan’s economic prosperity.
Ma said signing the trade pact was just the beginning of “remapping the market” and that the agreement would motivate many businesses to keep their roots in Taiwan or raise their quota of local investment.
“The agreement is just the appetizer, the main course is yet to come,” he said.
Ma said his presiential campaign slogan was: “Taiwan marches forward, Taiwan will win.”
“Now we can change it to: Taiwan signs [the] ECFA, Taiwan will prosper,” he said when leading government officials to attend an ECFA forum in Kaohsiung City yesterday.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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