Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday suggested that the government engage in cross-strait interactions via a “second track,” which would involve think tanks, academics and “former government officials.”
Chiang at yesterday’s legislative question-and-answer session pressed Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katherine Chang (張小月) on whether the government that took over last month has so far “maintained the [cross-strait] ‘status quo’ that it has promised to maintain.”
“Has the cross-strait status quo been maintained since May 20? [I just need] a simple answer,” Chiang asked, repeating the question several times.
Chang refused to answer the question directly, saying that cross-strait peace has been maintained and is stable, but that there is room for improvement.
Chang was also questioned on whether any direct calls via the “hotline” between her and China’s Taiwan Affairs Council Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) have been made and whether negotiation on functional matters between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) has been ongoing since May 20.
“The hotline is for major or urgent issues,” Chang responded, saying that no direct call with Zhang has taken place since the new administration took office “as there have not been any major issues.”
As for functional negotiations between the SEF and ARATS, Chang said that would “require efforts from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
Chiang said he considers the current state, with no direct calls being made and the functional negotiations halted, tantamount to a “cold standoff.”
He asked whether Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has ever thought about engaging in cross-strait interactions via a “second track,” which would be carried out by non-governmental individuals, such as think tank representatives, academics and former government officials.
Lin said that he would not rule out promoting friendly communication if such interactions are undertaken on an “equal footing” and under the condition that the nation’s dignity is not compromised.
The “second track” proposal raised by Chiang echoed what KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said on Saturday last week in Yunnan, China, about expecting the party to be a “second-track” mechanism for cross-strait peace.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) criticized the management of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which suffered a water outage due to construction on Monday and several leaks in the second terminal yesterday.
Lee said that the public is now watching how the new government is going to tackle the problems of the Taoyuan airport.
“This will be an important performance indicator. If the new government cannot save the airport, how would the public have faith in us and leave the nation to us?” Lee asked.
Lin said that the airport’s management has “failed to meet [his] expectations,” adding that he has required the new president of Taoyuan International Airport Corp to file a report within a month.
Lin added that he has also talked to Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) about inviting foreign experts to examine the airport on various levels, such as its operations, architecture, emergency response and anti-terror mechanism.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not