March 14, the day Beijing passed its "Anti-Secession" Law targeting Taiwan last year, has been designated as a national memorial day, effective this year, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday.
"Today is the 10th anniversary of the day the Chinese government tried to threaten and demonstrate its force against Taiwan by organizing a ballistic missile exercise in 1996. It was an issue the whole world paid attention to," Deputy Government Information Office Minister William Yih (
"Anti-Aggression Day" will not be a national holiday, however, meaning people will not be given the day off work, he said
Yih, speaking on behalf of Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"When they [Chinese officials] tried to prove their determination to invade Taiwan with militarily by introducing the Anti-Secession Law last year, the Taiwanese people took advantage of peaceful marches to express their anger. We want to mark the day as a reminder that our enemy is still there, but we are more than happy to resolve the problems peacefully," Yih said.
He said the day would also serve as a constant reminder to the Chinese government that the people of Taiwan hate any sort of military force and only peace and democracy would be welcomed here.
Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus whip David Huang (
"The memorial day will remind people to remember the day China passed a law to use military force against Taiwan and encourage them not to be afraid of China's military threat," he said.
People First Party caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (
Lee said the government would not be able to achieve the national goal of anti-aggression just by creating a "national day."
He said the government should take more concrete action such as having good relations with the US and maintaining cross-strait peace.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS