The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Thursday confirmed that it is to hire a consultant who was a Chinese official tasked with pursuing the nation’s unification with China.
KMT Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said that former deputy general secretary of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Wang Xiaobing (王小兵) will be hired as a consultant for the party’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Library Foundation.
Tsai said the aim is to better understand how information about the party’s history is used by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Wang’s work over the past 30 years has focused on Taiwan, Tsai said, adding that he is familiar with the nation’s political situation.
Aside from his former post with ARATS Wang has also worked for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), Tsai said.
The move to hire Wang as a consultant has drawn fire from critics, who have pointed to Wang’s role in advocating unification as part of his role with the TAO.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said the KMT appears to be using every avenue at its disposal to bolster ties with China.
The foundation is likely one of the platforms the KMT has used in building those ties, Tsai Yi-yu said, adding that if the foundation has any connection with the KMT, it is inappropriate to hire Wang as a consultant for its operations.
Tsai Yi-yu said that the KMT once protested against an assertion by China that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the legitimate successor to Republic of China founding father Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) political ideas.
“Now that it has ‘had its hand on China’s knee’ it has become soft. Now the KMT even wants to hand Sun Yat-sen’s altar over to the communists,” Tsai Yi-yu said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said it was important to maintain the correct perspective when working with Chinese officials.
“If that is lost from a party’s history, then the party is as good as over,” Tsai Shih-ying said.
Alex Tsai said that Wang’s job would not involve formal employment with the foundation.
He said he hopes the library can benefit from Wang’s experience.
Alex Tsai denied accusations that the foundation has sold artifacts from its history museum to China, saying that it has only engaged in academic exchanges with Chinese counterparts.
Alex Tsai said the party’s historical artifacts have always remained in storage or in the museum, adding that in the past it has digitized documents for the CASS, Stanford University, Hong Kong University and the National Taiwan University at the request of those institutions.
The cost of those services was paid for by those institutions, Alex Tsai said, adding that the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Library Foundation would never allow the artifacts to be moved from the museum or its library at National Chengchi University.
The foundation was established in 1994 and is headed by KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉)
It has registered assets of NT$10 million (US$313,254).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
RSS