DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) told Japanese news organizations yesterday that the cross-strait situation could only be improved by a change of party.
"The cross-strait relationship has worsened under KMT rule during the past decade. Therefore the situation will be only improved once a new party is elected," Chen said.
In addition, Chen criticized his rivals' cross-strait policy, saying the relationship between Taiwan and China, can be neither a "confederation," as mentioned by officials close to the KMT's presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), nor can it be described as a "quasi-international relationship" as offered by independent candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜).
"Taiwan is now an independent sovereign country, a fact that both the ruling party and opposition parties agree on. So there will be only one question: how to maintain Taiwan's security," Chen told the Japanese reporters.
DPP leaders predict that after the Lunar New Year on Feb. 5 the KMT will step up its attacks on Chen by playing the "stability card" and raising the specter of war in the case of a DPP victory.
Chen has planned a series of interviews with foreign media in anticipation of a wave of attacks by the KMT claiming the opposition is unable to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region.
Chen has frequently expressed his stance on the sensitive statehood issue to international media in the past few weeks, reaffirming that neither he nor his party would write the "special state-to-state" notion declared by President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) last July into the constitution, nor change the country's official name.
DPP International Affairs department deputy director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠) said that Lien and Soong have been accepting interviews with international media to attack Chen on the regional security issue.
Therefore, Liu said, "Chen has to use a louder voice to fight back."
Liu said Chen may try to visit other countries before the election to make his policies better known to the international community.
With this in mind, his vice presidential running mate Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) will fly to the US today on a four-day visit to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Lu has previously devoted considerable energy to advancing a movement aimed at Taiwan's membership in the UN, and party leaders said that Lu has established good contacts with political heavyweights in the US.
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