The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to stop flattering China by sacrificing Taiwan's sovereignty and the legal rights of its people.
“KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) addressed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as ‘Mr. Ma’ during a banquet with Chinese Communist Party [CCP] officials on Monday night. This kind of behavior has me worried that he may have forgotten about Taiwan and its 23 million people,” Legislative Whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference.
He said the DPP was opposed to the KMT-CCP’s party-to-party communications because the rights of Taiwanese could easily be sacrificed.
PHOTO: AFP
“Any decision-making that concerns a country and its people must be supervised by the public,” the caucus whip said.
Lai’s comments were echoed by DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), who said the US would never assign a party chairman to negotiate with a foreign country on behalf of the government, because a political party’s concerns could never reflect all US citizens’ concerns.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), another a DPP member, voiced her concern about Wu’s trip, saying he had made a “hasty” decision to visit China before the new government had had the opportunity to fully assess public opinion. She urged the KMT to insist on Taiwan’s sovereignty while protecting people’s interests during the KMT delegation’s trip.
However, Deputy KMT caucus Secretary-General Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) downplayed the implication of Wu Poh-hsiung referring to Ma as “Mr” on Monday night.
Wu Yu-sheng said the KMT chairman’s comments reflected his intention to “put aside controversies and ensure mutual respect” for both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Wu Poh-hsiung paid homage at Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) Mausoleum in Nanjing yesterday, saying both the “mainland” and Taiwan belong to the Chinese nation and are “closely tied by blood,” which no one could obliterate. He said the KMT has promised to make the welfare and interests of the people of Taiwan its top priority because the people gave the KMT its election victories.
Wu Poh-hsiung said his delegation chose Nanjing as their first destination in China because it was the former seat of the KMT government and therefore had unique significance to the KMT historically and emotionally.
Noting that Sun was respected on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the KMT chief said that every KMT delegation visiting China goes to Sun’s mausoleum.
He said that he had gone there when he visited as KMT vice chairman after the party lost power to the DPP in 2000.
“I felt really ashamed in front of Sun [then],” he said.
Sun’s soul should be comforted by the KMT’s return to power, he said.
He said it would be easier for KMT members to visit Nanjing in the future, hinting that they would be able to take direct flights from Taipei.
Wu Poh-hsiung invited Nanjing residents to travel to Taiwan after his visit to Sun’s mausoleum attracted a lot of local attention — and shouts of “Go” and “Peaceful unification.”
He laid a floral wreath next to the statue of Sun and observed a minute of silence.
Later in the day Wu flew to Beijing, where he is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today.
Wu said yesterday he hoped the vision shared by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Hu during their meeting in 2005 could become reality.
The two planned to facilitate the resumption of bilateral negotiations, end the state of hostility, sign a peace accord and establish a mechanism for economic cooperation.
Wu said it was his party’s responsibility to the peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to materialize these five wishes.
He made the remarks while meeting Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), head of the People’s Political Consultative Conference, in Beijing yesterday evening.
He thanked Jia for attending the past three cross-strait economic forums and making an effort to push the peaceful development of cross-strait ties.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS