Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to face the underlying problems posed by the citation of UN Resolution 2758 in Taiwan’s invitation for this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), which she said could be a precursor to a full-blown campaign by Beijing against Taipei’s participation in international organizations.
“The key to Taiwan’s abundant achievements in the area of foreign affairs during the KMT’s tenure of the past eight years is stable cross-strait ties, which have been sustained by the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus’ and the mutual good will that accompanies the ‘consensus,’” Hung said at a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee yesterday afternoon.
Expressing concerns that the achievements could be nullified by the DPP’s opposition to the “1992 consensus,” Hung said that the party’s stance could also put an end to the unofficial diplomatic truce between Taipei and Beijing and make it all the more difficult for Taiwan to participate in international organizations.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Hung said the reference to UN Resolution 2758 in the WHO’s invitation for the annual WHA, which is to be held from May 23 to May 28 in Geneva, Switzerland, is a warning from Beijing to the DPP.
“The DPP must realize one thing: That Beijing chose to bring the ‘one China’ principle from the level of a cross-strait consensus to the level of a UN resolution is a sign that Beijing is preparing to launch a full-scale boycott against Taipei’s participation in international organizations,” Hung said.
Adopted by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 25, 1971, Resolution 2758 recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and expelling the representatives of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the UN and all related organizations.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said no acts of belittlement can compare to being isolated by the international community.
“The new DPP government should abandon its opposition mindset and adopt an open and practical attitude toward the ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one China, with different interpretations,’” Chiang said, adding that the DPP’s narrow-mindedness would only impede any opportunities Taiwan has to participate in international organizations.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,