The New Party has made itself a “broker for unification” and Beijing’s endorser through its establishment of an organization to promote a planned cross-strait experimental zone in China, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday.
The party’s motive behind its promotion of the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in China’s Fujian Province was “suspicious,” TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference after the pro-unification New Party announced yesterday the establishment of the Taiwan-Pingtan Relations Association.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration appears wary of the proposal, with Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) telling lawmakers on Wednesday last week that China has “ulterior motives” and the zone “is not as simple as it looks.”
The establishment of the association ahead of a promotional visit by the Fujian governor to Taiwan reflected the New Party’s attempt to collaborate with the Chinese to achieve their shared goal of unification, Huang said.
Chinese media say the zone, which is on Pingtan Island, 68 nautical miles (125km) from Hsinchu, would host high-tech companies and factories and “deepen cross-strait ties,” but Taiwanese analysts are concerned that Taiwan’s economy would hollow out further if more domestic businesses move their investments there.
TSU Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said incoming Chinese capital and closer cross-strait economic integration following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) could slowly jeopardize Taiwan’s economy.
She urged the Ma administration to stay alert to China’s attempt of annexing Taiwan through non-military means.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
About 3,000 people gathered at events in Taipei yesterday for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on a student-led demonstration in Beijing on June 4 36 years ago. A candlelight vigil organized by the New School for Democracy and other human rights groups began at 7pm on Democracy Boulevard outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with the theme "Resist Transnational Repression, Defy Totalitarianism." At about 8pm, organizers announced that about 3,000 people had attended the event, which featured brief speeches by human rights advocates from Taiwan and China, including Hong Kong, as well
RSS