People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) on Tuesday arrived in New York, where he spent the night before continuing on to Lima for the APEC leaders’ summit.
Soong, who is serving as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) envoy to the leaders’ summit, was welcomed by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty and Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
In addition to the government delegation, which includes Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光), National Development Council Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) and People First Party caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), Soong is accompanied by his daughter, Soong Cheng-mai (宋鎮邁).
Photo: CNA
The group was scheduled to leave New York at 8am yesterday for Lima.
James Soong has expressed the hope of meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the summit, which is to take place on Saturday and Sunday.
However, a meeting might not take place, a Chinese official said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said yesterday in Beijing that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot conduct any “positive interactions of substantial meaning” if Taiwanese authorities do not recognize the so-called “1992 consensus.”
China has insisted that Tsai’s government accept the “1992 consensus” that underpinned cross-strait relations during the eight years former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was in office, something Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been unwilling to do.
Because of China’s hard-line position, cross-strait ties have cooled since Tsai took office May 20.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said in 2006 that he had made up the term in 2000.
This year’s APEC summit is to have the theme of “Quality Growth and Human Development,” and is to focus on advancing regional economic integration, enhancing regional food markets, working on the modernization of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and developing human capital.
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:
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
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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