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
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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