The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) welcomes other political parties to participate in the upcoming forum between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a KMT official said yesterday.
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) told reporters that the CCP had proposed inviting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members to the forum and that the KMT did not object to the proposal.
However, Lee said it should be the CCP, not the KMT, that sends out the invitations, adding that the KMT did not know who the CCP would invite.
Lee said the KMT would reveal more details about the forum during a press conference scheduled for Thursday.
Lee was approached for comment after the Chinese-language China Times quoted KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) as saying the CCP would invite DPP members to the forum this year.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) will lead a delegation to the fifth KMT-CCP forum this weekend in Changsha, Hunan Province. The story quoted a source, who was allegedly close to the DPP, as saying DPP members who had been invited and had promised to attend the forum had asked organizers not to publicize the list of attendees because they would come under pressure from party headquarters.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said last month that DPP members should request the party’s authorization before visiting China.
Lee said yesterday that certain important figures in the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) would also visit China in the near future, but he dismissed media speculation that the group included former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the TSU’s spiritual leader.
DPP acting spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) told a press conference yesterday that the KMT-CCP forum had nothing to do with the DPP, and the party had not received any invitations.
Asked to comment on how the party would react if any of its members were to attend the forum, Chuang said that party regulations stipulate that high-level party officials should request authorization from headquarters if they wish to visit China and the party would make a decision on a case-by-case basis.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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