Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) yesterday demanded that the Taipei City Government cancel the annual Taipei-Shanghai Forum, saying that China has become increasingly blatant in its united front tactics aimed at infiltrating Taiwan since last year.
During a city council question-and-answer session with Taipei City Government Secretary-General Su Li-chung (蘇麗瓊) and Taipei Department of Civil Affairs Commissioner Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰), Wang showed several photographs taken last year at a meeting between former Zhongshan District (中山) Office director Lin Ping-tsung (林秉宗) and Shanghai’s Minxin District (閔行) United Front Work Director Jin Mei (金梅).
One of the pictures showed Jin giving a speech to a room of Zhongshan officials.
Wang accused Jin of avoiding due procedure by contacting the district office directly to arrange her visit when she should have obtained the department’s permission before visiting, adding that there are central government policies governing visits by Chinese officials.
Referring to memorandums of understanding (MOU) signed at this year’s forum between Taipei’s Zhongshan and Shanghai’s Minxin districts and between Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正) and Shanghai’s Jingan (靜安) districts, Wang said China picked Zhongshan and Zhongzheng districts because the former is the nation’s defense center and the latter is where the nation’s political headquarters are located.
The Ministry of National Defense headquarters, the Navy Command headquarters and the Heng Shan Military Command Center are in Zhongshan District, while the Presidential Office Building, Executive Yuan and legislature are in Zhongzheng District.
The MOU, along with the municipal government’s inaction over Chinese officials’ disregard of protocol, have created loopholes that allow China to “cruise into” the nation’s military and political headquarters, Wang said.
Wang said the forum was an ill-conceived policy by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) during his tenure as Taipei mayor.
However, under city councilors’ supervision, Hau adhered strictly to cross-strait exchanges and made sure that exchanges between Taipei and Shanghai remained at the local government level, Wang said.
For example, Shanghai sent household registration officials and sanitation engineers to Taipei to learn about the municipality’s work in those two areas during Hau’s term, he said.
However, since last year, China has changed its approach by sending united front officials, such as Shanghai Municipal Committee United Front Work Department Director Sha Hailin (沙海林), he said.
Accusing China of trying to assimilate Taipei and “blurring the line” between the two nations, Wang demanded that the city government discontinue the forum and that Su relay his message to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
“Intercity exchanges are crucial to a global society,” Su replied.
Wang responded by saying that Ko has a “fetish” for associating with Chinese officials.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man