Former premier Yu Shyi-kun on Tuesday called on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to hold talks with Taiwan on the basis of the universal value of peace.
Yu made the comment in the US, where he is heading the Taiwanese delegation to the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump tomorrow in Washington.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May last year, Taipei has been keen to see an improvement in relations between Taiwan and Beijing and has been sincere in its maintenance of the “status quo” in cross-strait relations, Yu said, adding that the ball is squarely in Beijing’s court when it comes to improving bilateral ties.
Yu also urged the two sides to pursue positive interactions and create a mutually beneficial relationship through pragmatic and candid negotiations.
Commenting on the telephone call between Tsai and Trump on Dec. 2 last year — the first between the leaders of the US and Taiwan since 1979 — Yu said that Taipei kept the telephone conversation low key and that it was Trump who made it public.
Although, from a public relations perspective, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the call, it enhanced Taiwan’s visibility and cemented Tsai’s place in the international community, which would help to resolve Taiwan-related issues, Yu said.
However, analysts have said the call had a negative impact on already strained relations between Taipei and Beijing, which has warned the US and other countries against official contact with Taiwan.
Asked whether he plans to meet members of the Trump transition team, Yu said such matters are arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that such a meeting would not be made public, based on past practice and a tacit agreement between Taipei and Washington.
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:
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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