The government is to formulate more flexible responses to China’s divide-and-conquer tactics and its attempts at weakening Taiwan’s self-determination, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai made the remark during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei in response to a question by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on how the Executive Yuan would respond to Beijing’s increasingly aggressive Taiwan policy, such as its unilateral launch of the northbound M503 flight route, the announcement of 31 incentives for Taiwanese working or studying in China and the reportedly planned merger of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) with its Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office — which the Cabinet has called an attempt to belittle Taiwan.
The government’s responses to China’s moves to subordinate Taiwan have been limited to “slogan-chanting condemnation” without effective countermeasures, Chiu said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The government should adopt moderate and proactive countermeasures, such as moving the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Department from the Mainland Affairs Council — the TAO’s Taiwanese counterpart — to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or merging the council with the ministry, he said.
Apart from appointing Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) to head an interdepartmental task force to formulate countermeasures for the 31 incentives, the public should understand that whatever Taiwan policy Beijing introduces, its ultimate goal is to annex Taiwan, Lai said.
The government would diversify its responses to China’s attempts to influence the nation to make them more flexible, he said.
Asked by Chiu how the nation would respond to China’s dramatic 8.1 percent annual increase in its military budget — which is now 16 times that of Taiwan’s annual defense budget of between NT$320 billion and NT$330 billion (US$10.9 billion and US$11.3 billion) — Lai echoed Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發), who has said that the nation’s strategy in the event of China launching an armed assault on Taiwan is predicated on “defense and multilayered deterrent” and “asymmetric warfare.”
“If the outcome of a war is determined by which side has the larger defense budget, history would have to be rewritten,” the premier said.
The nation is to join forces with the international community to form a collaborative regional defense system, while gradually increasing its defense budget, he said.
Asked by Chiu whether the defense budget could reach the government’s goal of 3 percent of the nation’s GDP next year, Lai said that an increase to the budget would depend on the nation’s arms procurement plans.
The government’s special budget could also be tapped to cover potential insufficiencies in the defense budget, Lai said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work