Political analysts and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians yesterday criticized President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for describing cross-strait relations as not international and cross-strait flights as domestic flights.
“What Ma has been doing in the past five years, in terms of external relations, is lying. He lied to the Taiwanese, the US and Beijing, hoping to reap benefits and personal gains,” political commentator Nan Fang Shuo (南方朔) said on the sidelines of a DPP-organized forum in Taipei.
At the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) weekly Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday, Ma, noting that domestic flights in the US have been more profitable than international flights, said that Taiwan’s airline companies would not have been profitable if they were not operating cross-strait routes.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“The relations between Taiwan and China are exactly like that,” Ma was quoted as saying.
His comment was interpreted to mean that cross-strait flights are domestic flights.
Ma also drew fire with his Double Ten National Day speech on Oct. 10 when he said the cross-strait relations were not international relations.
The Ma administration’s handling of diplomatic affairs has failed to maximize Taiwan’s gain and minimize potential damages, Nan Fang Shou said, adding that Ma assumed his deceit would win him an opportunity to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at next year’s APEC summit in Beijing.
Asked if Ma’s recent comments underlined the necessity for a constitutional amendment, Nan Fang Shuo said that the true problem did not lie in the Constitution, but in the way Ma and the KMT distorted the Constitution.
“If someone could distort the Constitution like that, amending the Constitution would not be meaningful,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ma yesterday tried to dismiss concerns about his defining cross-strait ties as “not international relations.”
“The Republic of China [ROC] is a sovereign country, and mainland China is part of our territory according to the Constitution. Therefore, our relations with the mainland are not international relations. It is a special relationship,” he said at a meeting with a US delegation led by Wyoming Governor Matt Mead at the Presidential Office.
The president also reiterated his “three noes” policy of no unification, no independence and no use of force in handling cross-strait relations, and said that the government continued to promote cross-strait development under the so-called “1992 consensus.”
He said that cross-strait air routes are neither international flights nor domestic ones, shrugging off concerns about his comparison of US domestic flights to cross-strait flights.
“We’ve defined that the cross-strait air routes are not international ones or domestic ones. They are special flights,” he said.
“Such a definition allows the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to enhance their relations and bring profits to the people from both sides that they did not enjoy in the past,” he said.
Ma cited the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and the service trade agreement, and said the cross-strait relations are the most peaceful and stable they have been in the past 60 years.
He also said the nation will continue to seek cooperation with the US in maintaining a sustainable defense force to protect public safety.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS