A coalition of pro-independence groups yesterday expressed outrage over Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and liaison office in Hong Kong.
“China’s liaison office is a place where every chief executive of Hong Kong must report to after their election and Han’s visit was apparently meant to show support for China’s ‘one country, two systems’ proposal,” Asia University student Hsieh Hai-ching (謝海菁) said at a protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Tapei.
By offering to serve as a promoter for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Han is probably hoping to become president with the party’s help, she said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Young people are very worried that Han might be elected president, because that could cause Taiwan to suffer the same fate as Hong Kong and undergo a series of sovereignty crises,” she said.
Han and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must not “sell out” Taiwan, she added.
The protest, organized by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan and more than a dozen student groups, drew about 30 people to Jinan Road, many of them holding placards that read “Say no to ‘one country, two systems’” and “China would give neither bread nor freedom.”
“With Chinese President Xi Jingping (習近平) clearly set on promoting ‘the great revival of the Chinese people,’ I find it anachronistic and unbelievable that certain people in Taiwan are backing the ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one country, two systems,’ or proposing a peace treaty,” Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said.
He urged Han to explain when he returns home today what he had negotiated with the CCP while in China and called for the government to boost national security against Chinese infiltration.
Han last week led a 28-member delegation on a visit to Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen and Xiamen to promote trade.
While in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, he met with Chinese Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Director Wang Zhimin (王志民) and Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) respectively.
Han is scheduled to return to Kaohsiung this morning.
The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the CCP that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
RSS