The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday denied charges by a former US official that Taiwan’s China-leaning policy was steering it away from the ranks of world democracies and that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) did not have a US policy.
A report in the Taipei Times on Friday cited former US diplomat John Tkacik as testifying at a US congressional hearing that Taiwan is “moving out of the column of the community of democracies” and now “basically agrees” that it is part of China.
Tkacik also said the Ma administration had a very clear China policy, but not a US policy.
KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said Tkacik was wrong on both counts, calling his comments groundless and not factual.
The Ma administration’s China policy is clearly based on the principles of “no unification, no independence and no use of force” and a cross-strait understanding that there is only “one China,” with each side free to interpret what that is, Yin said.
The “one China,” Yin said, refers to the Republic of China and there is no alternative explanation.
Therefore, how can it be that “Taiwan is part of mainland China?” Yin asked.
On Tkacik’s charge that Taiwan is moving away from the community of democracies and that Ma has adopted a policy of “accommodating” Beijing, Yin said the 16 cross-strait agreements signed since Ma took office in 2008 were made in the interests of Taiwan.
He pointed to Ma’s re-election in January as clear evidence of support for the agreements.
Addressing the accusation that the Ma administration had a China policy, but not a US policy, Yin said former US president George W. Bush and US President Barack Obama have repeatedly recognized improved ties between Taiwan and China, with Obama praising the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between Taiwan and China in June 2010.
Moreover, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last year said that Taiwan was an important security and economic partner of the US, and American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt praised Ma in February for improving US-Taiwan relations during his first term, Yin said.
Taiwan’s US policy is further reflected by US$18.3 billion in arms sales offered to Taiwan, visits by senior US officials and the ongoing evaluation of Taiwan’s bid to join the US visa-waiver program, Yin said, adding that US-Taiwan ties were at their best in 60 years.
FATAL FIRE: The health department is trying to contact the inspector who visited the site of the illegal nursing home to ask why they did not advise follow-up checks The Taipei City Government yesterday said that a health department inspector last year had visited the site of a long-term care facility in Neihu District (內湖) after receiving a report questioning its status. A fire broke out at the facility on Tuesday afternoon, killing three people. The Taipei Fire Department said that it received a report about a fire on the first floor of a four-story residential building on Kangning Road Sec. 1 at 2:38pm on Tuesday, firefighters arrived at 2:43pm and the fire was put out by 3:07pm. The firefighters found three men in beds and rushed them to hospital for
Taipei City Councilor Wang Hao (王浩) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday called for security improvements to the MRT, as fare evasion has increased more than 13-fold on the metropolitan railway system over the past five years. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has spoken out against fare evasion and other contraventions of MRT regulations, but since he took office in 2015 the number of contraventions has more than doubled, Wang said, adding that there were 537 cases in 2015 compared with 959 last year. A video was posted to YouTube in June showing people how to evade paying a fare,
FEELING MISUNDERSTOOD: Media speculation has fueled confusion about the KMT’s reasons for skipping a Chinese forum and delaying an AIT meeting, party sources said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Sunday said that it is not seeking to improve relations with the US or China at the expense of the other, and that its relations with the countries would be topic-based. The party has faced questions over its foreign policy after it on Monday last week announced its withdrawal from the annual Straits Forum and delayed planned talks with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The party has also taken a tough stance on the importation of US meat containing ractopamine, while also lambasting China for increasing its military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. Following
Yuchi Township (魚池) fishers have appealed to the Nantou County Government for help in dealing with an invasive fish species in Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), where it has devastated the local ecosystem. Fishers at Sun Moon Lake have been using electrofishing in an attempt to eliminate the giant snakehead fish — found in Africa and Southeast Asia — but they have struggled to keep up with the growing population of the species, which breeds during September and October, the county government said on Monday. The county has contacted researchers at National Tsing Hua University, saying it hoped they could come up
RSS