Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday dismissed a link between her scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) early next month and a potential re-election bid, while reiterating that she has made no promises as to what she is going to talk about at the meeting.
At a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei yesterday afternoon, Hung said that it has been speculated that her upcoming meeting with Xi, the Cross-Strait Peaceful Development Forum and the KMT’s ill-gotten assets predicament are all part of her efforts to drum up support for her re-election bid as KMT chairwoman next year.
“None of these things are aimed at me keeping my position as chairwoman or building a better future for the KMT, but at improving the livelihoods of 23 million Taiwanese,” Hung said in her speech.
Photo: CNA
Hung said at a meeting with KMY lawmakers on Tuesday that she has borne in mind KMT lawmakers’ opinions about her meeting with XI, but cross-strait negotiations are complicated and what really matters is being able to achieve goals.
“During the meeting with KMT lawmakers, I did not make any promises about what I am or am not going to say [to Xi]. I want to leave some room for flexibility so that I can react according to the situation. I am sure everyone can understand that,” Hung said.
Hung met with the KMT caucus on Tuesday afternoon after growing concerns within the party regarding her stance on the so-called “1992 consensus,” as she has proposed that the “one China, different interpretations” framework should evolve into “one China, same interpretation,” which was seen as an attempt to bring the nation closer to unification with China.
Many KMT members have expressed concerns that Hung might bring up “one China, same interpretation” during her meeting with Xi in Beijing, which is expected to take place on Nov. 1.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said in 2006 that he had made up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Hung also shrugged off criticism that most of the KMT’s former chairmen have turned a blind eye to the party’s current predicament, saying that she is due to meet with four of the party’s former heads to discuss how to overcome the challenges.
It was reported that the participants include former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) and former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄).
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods