Taiwan and China should put their political disagreements to one side to facilitate bilateral exchanges, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday during a meeting with a visiting Chinese official.
Wu said there are many political questions that cannot be solved right now, but by showing patience, setting aside differences, and focusing on economic cooperation and cultural exchanges, more areas of common ground, such as lifestyle and values, would emerge.
“The more areas in which we agree, the greater the chances of resolving our differences,” Wu said in a meeting with a visiting delegation headed by Yunnan Province Chinese Communist Party Secretary Qin Guangrong (秦光榮).
During the meeting, Qin encouraged Taiwanese businesses to invest in Yunnan and use the province to make inroads into Southeast Asia and South Asia, creating new business opportunities.
He also said that Yunnan welcomed Taiwanese farmers, township wardens, teachers and students, as well as media, religious and business representatives to visit the province, and increase the exposure of Taiwanese products and culture.
Qin and his delegation of more than 200 arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a week-long visit.
During the trip, the group plans to participate in several activities to promote bilateral exchanges in several fields, including education, culture, technology, tourism and civil aviation.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS