The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has taken a first step toward closer engagement with Chinese students in Taiwan with a two-day student camp, hoping the activity will foster better understanding between the two sides.
In the camp, held on Saturday and yesterday by the party’s think tank, 34 students focused on democracy and human rights as well as Taiwan’s history and its struggle for human rights.
The students participated in a symposium with a number of DPP officials, including Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), on Saturday and visited the Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park yesterday, DPP Department of Youth Development director Chang Chi-chang (張基長) said.
Taking inspiration from a remark from Chinese dissident Wang Dan (王丹), who said the DPP did not have to look far to increase its understanding of China because Chinese students currently studying in Taiwan were the best source for contact, plans for such a camp materialized within a short period, DPP Department of China Affairs director Honigmann Hong (洪財隆) said.
The party said it stayed low-key about the event in the hope of lowering political sensitivity that came with the nature of such activity, which was why it did not make any announcement about the event prior to issuing a press release yesterday.
The DPP has had difficulty handling issues related to Chinese students in Taiwan, such as their rights to work and receive National Health Insurance coverage, as the party was caught between national security concerns, reciprocal treatment for Taiwanese students in China and human rights considerations.
Although it previously insisted on tougher restrictions on Chinese students in Taiwan, the party appears to have softened its position.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard