China has drafted three new policy guidelines for cross-Taiwan Strait engagements in the wake of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, according to a local media report.
One of the new strategies involves Beijing expanding its outreach to Taiwanese with different party affiliations and from all walks of life, as well as an effort to exert more influence over the Taiwanese news media and help China-based Taiwanese companies upgrade operations and resolve trade disputes, the Chinese-language United Daily News said.
Chinese officials in charge of cross-strait affairs have held several brainstorming sessions since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was re-elected to a second four-year term last month, a source familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
In addition to charting three new policy guidelines, Chinese officials have also begun to execute decisions reached at those meetings, the source said.
The visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), Beijing’s No. 2 cross-strait negotiator, which concluded on Thursday, was part of China’s new approach, the source said.
During his visit, Zheng, who is also deputy director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, traveled extensively in southern Taiwan, a DPP stronghold. While there he met with local farmers and aquaculture operators in an effort to forge relationships. According to the source, Zheng even stayed overnight at the homes of milkfish growers in Greater Tainan.
He also reached an agreement with Tainan milkfish farmers to form a joint venture company to handle fish farming in Taiwan and the sale of the fish in China, the source said.
Prior to his departure on Thursday, Zheng said his visit had been very fruitful, but he did not elaborate.
Other sources said that China’s new cross-strait action plan includes inviting Taiwanese to engage in “long stay” visits in China’s first-tier cities, living with selected Chinese families in an attempt to forge grassroots friendships.
The Chinese authorities will also continue to encourage Taiwanese to study and work in China.
In addition, the sources said that Beijing was not ruling out engaging with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) figures or other pro-independence supporters.
Political and military issues could also be placed on the agenda of future cross-strait talks, the sources said.
Most interesting is the suggestion that China has decided to enhance its direct and indirect influence on the news media in Taiwan, the sources said, adding that the decision is based on Beijing’s belief that the reporting of local media outlets have helped convince many Taiwanese to support the so-called “1992 consensus” for cross-strait cooperation.
The KMT defines the “1992 consensus” as an agreement according to which it interprets “one China” as the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, while Beijing defines it as the People’s Republic of China. The DPP says the “1992 consensus” does not exist.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS