President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will not follow President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) line on China as an academic has suggested, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said on Monday night.
DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said in a statement that there is no question of Tsai toeing Ma’s line after academic Shao Zong-hai (邵宗海) wrote in an article in the Chinese-language China Times, part of the Want Want China Times Group, that the new government’s cross-strait policy would follow Ma’s.
Tsai has clearly said that she would follow the public’s will, abide by democratic principles and insist on safeguarding Taiwanese people’s options for their future, Wang said in the statement, calling the declaration the biggest difference between the new government and the Ma administration.
“The DPP will not follow the established approach,” Wang said.
He said that the public’s will and democracy should be the government’s two pillars in formulating a cross-strait policy and that if the party deviates from the two pillars, it cannot expect its platform to be stable for very long.
In her visit to the US in June last year, and also during the presidential campaign, Tsai said her support for “maintaining the ‘status quo’” referred to promoting cross-strait policy under the Republic of China’s constitutional system and in accordance with the public’s will.
The new government is to continue to promote cross-strait peace and stability on the foundations built through cross-strait consultations and exchanges over the past two decades, Wang said, adding that Tsai has pledged that cross-strait ties would be consistent, predictable and sustainable.
Tsai is to be inaugurated on May 20.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all