Continued gestures of goodwill from Taiwan could eventually lead to the restart of cross-strait dialogue and cooperation with China, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) said on Friday.
He said the creation of a friendly environment through goodwill would benefit people on both sides.
“We still believe there should be more contact between the two sides in order to cement the basis of peaceful development,” Tien said at an SEF board meeting.
Cross-strait relations have cooled and dialogues stalled since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office on May 20, apparently due to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refusal to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The consensus refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. In 2006, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term in 2000, before the KMT handed over power to the DPP.
Tien noted that Tsai said in her National Day address that her pledge given in her inaugural speech would remain unchanged and the government would conduct cross-strait affairs in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of China, the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), and other legislation.
He said that looking back on the past year, the international situation has undergone tremendous change, including Europe’s rejection of an influx of refugees, Brexit and the US presidential election.
Political conservatism is increasing around the world, Tien said.
He added the wealth gap between rich and poor has continued to widen in many nations under the effects of globalization and a new wave of the industrial revolution.
In the past few decades, the world has been dedicated to lifting restrictions on trade, funding, technology and personnel exchanges, but it is likely see protectionism and more restrictions on immigration, Tien said.
Isolationism, protectionism and populist nationalism could also make a comeback, he said.
The US president-elect has already categorically rejected the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and this could be a tough test for trade-oriented Taiwan, Tien said.
However, Tien added, the SEF and related government agencies would provide assistance to Taiwanese businesses to cope with the new situation.
China on Friday closed the door to pro-Taiwanese independence companies wanting to do business in China.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,