Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday declined to confirm whether she would accept Beijing's invitation to visit China.
A Chinese-language United Daily News story reported that the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) had said on Thursday that it would welcome Lu as president of her planned daily, the Formosa Post (玉山午報).
Lu said yesterday that she had not received an invitation from the CPPCC and that she would consult her paper's board before making any decision. The Formosa Post will publish online on April 1.
“I will respect the opinions of the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP], but don't forget that I am a free person now,” she said yesterday during a visit to Hsinchu City.
Lu said she had visited China in 1990 as an independence advocate and that any new trip would not change her stance.
As the fate and development of Taiwan are affected by China, it is proper for the opposition to monitor the government's cross-strait policies by visiting China to gain a better understanding of it, she said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said former officials who had left their positions less than three years ago and had handled confidential information should seek approval from a committee including the National Security Bureau, Justice Department and the MAC before traveling to China.
The MAC said that if the Presidential Office decided that Lu's level of involvement in national secrets during her term did not require her to seek approval, it would respect the Presidential Office's decision.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said that if Lu could not visit China using her official title of former vice president, then she should not go.
Lai said former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) had failed to highlight Taiwan as a sovereign nation during their trips to China, and that if Lu planned to do the same, her trip would be inappropriate.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said that if China allowed Lu to hold an international press conference and say whatever she wanted, then Lu should speak out about Taiwan's independence, but if Lu found China was using her as part of its unification agenda, she should reject the invitation.
DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the DPP aimed to uphold Taiwan's sovereignty and Taiwanese interests when dealing with cross-strait issues. He said that as a politician with plenty of experience, Lu would exchange opinions with the party before she made a decision on the matter.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
RSS