A delegation to China led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) sparked controversy over the weekend amid speculation that they might meet with top Chinese officials today.
It is rumored that the delegation has a “hidden itinerary,” which includes meeting Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Zhang Zhijun (張志軍).
The KMT has said that the group would not meet with top Chinese officials or discuss political issues during the visit.
Photo provided by the KMT
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said that the goal of the visit is to solve problems related to Taiwanese businesspeople, adding that he has not heard about a hidden itinerary.
The KMT mentioned to the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) before the trip that the group might meet with Liu and other officials, but did not specify a time or place, said a government official who asked to remain anonymous.
The MAC had tried dissuading the KMT delegation from visiting China amid Beijing’s military exercises around Taiwan and economic sanctions against the nation, the official added.
Hsia’s delegation arrived in China on Aug. 10, with some KMT members calling the timing of the visit improper, as it came shortly after China on Aug. 4 began live-fire drills in waters around Taiwan. The military exercises were in response US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Aug. 2 to 3 visit to Taipei.
The KMT Culture and Communications Committee yesterday said in a statement that the delegation on Saturday completed their 10-day COVID-19 quarantine.
That night, the group dined with Xiamen officials and Xiamen Taiwanese Businessmen Association chairman Wu Chia-ying (吳家瑩), it said, adding that they held a forum to share ideas with Taiwanese businesspeople yesterday.
The statement said that Hsia had asked Xiamen officials to reopen the “small three links” to allow people-to-people exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, which were suspended in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “small three links” are the ferry services connecting China’s Fujian Province with Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties.
The trip was planned because some Taiwanese businesspeople hoped to meet KMT members, as they had not visited China for years, Hsia said.
KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday urged Hsia to clearly state his stance against China’s drills and make the itinerary transparent.
Additional reporting by Tsai Si-pei
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues