Members of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday met Chinese delegates to the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum with a noisy protest at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), with members jostling police and shouting slogans.
About 30 TSU members, outnumbered and surrounded by police officers, shouted: “Reject unification. Communist bandits get out,” as the delegation, led by Shanghai Municipal Committee United Front Work Department Director Sha Hailin (沙海林), walked out of the heavily guarded airport shortly before noon.
Police restrained enraged TSU members when a group of demonstrators in support of Sha’s arrival raised a banner printed with greetings, while a TSU member who broke a police cordon and entered the airport concourse to protest the delegation was immediately arrested.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
A group of Atayal Aborigines from Hsinchu County gathered at the airport to welcome Sha, singing songs and shouting: “Leader Sha, we love you.”
Escorted by police and bodyguards, Sha waved to his supporters then left the airport immediately.
Former TSU legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) said it was unimaginable that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) would welcome a top United Front official with open arms.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Instead of holding talks with his Shanghai counterpart, Ko was for some reason willing to meet Sha, whose attendance in his capacity as a United Front official was inappropriate for the mayoral forum, Chou said.
A military official should replace Ko to participate in the forum instead, Chou added.
“We hope Ko does not become a participant in China’s United Front operations. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has refused to accept the so-called ‘1992 consensus.’ Does Ko plan to step over the line and offer an opportunity for China to assert the ‘1992 consensus’?” she said.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
“Only an evil country that intends to annex other countries would establish a United Front Work Department, but Ko welcomes the Chinese Communist Party with open arms. The TSU issues a formal protest,” Chou said.
“Ko saying that the nation has stigmatized the United Front operation is as indiscreet as his inviting a United Front figure to Taiwan,” TSU official Tsai Feng-wen (蔡豐文) said, referring to comments by Ko earlier this month that the United Front is a stigmatized term in Taiwan, but is a neutral word in China.
TSU Department of Organization deputy director Chang Chao-lin (張兆林) said Ko is trying to play a broker’s role amid slowed cross-strait interactions, in a bid to accumulate political capital.
“Such an act is intended to curry favor with pan-blue voters, but it will estrange Ko from the naturally independent younger generation,” Chang said.
TSU Youth Department deputy director Hsu Ya-chi (許亞齊) said the party does not plan to boycott international or intercity interactions, but it is compelled to prevent China’s attempted annexation of Taiwan under the banner of intercity exchange.
The TSU yesterday evening staged a protest outside Taipei City Hall, where a banquet was held in honor of the Chinese delegation.
Hsu said the TSU would shadow Sha’s stay in Taiwan with protests.
Separately yesterday, Ko hailed the forum between Taipei and Shanghai as an opportunity to break a stalemate in official cross-strait exchanges.
The forum would serve as an opportunity for the two sides to engage in friendly exchanges, Ko added.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique