Tsai Ing-wen (
"This deserves to be resolved and should be resolved; it will be a priority matter," Tsai said.
Tsai made her comments yesterday while having lunch with members of the Taiwan Unified Alliance (台聯會), which includes KMT and People First Party lawmakers.
Chen Ching-pao (
Chen suggested that worshippers could make the trip under the auspices of a recently-passed law called the Outlying Islands Development Act or "small three links." The law was passed shortly after the presidential election and allows for direct links between Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu and China.
While the necessary details of the law have yet to be hammered out, worshippers of the goddess have called on the government to consider their travel to China as a special case.
Every year nearly 100,000 worshippers travel to Meizhou, but because of the ban on direct links, to get there legally they must pass through Hong Kong or travel on cruise boats which follow the same indirect course.
Chen said that if President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) put his support behind the measure then Chen would support all of the president's policies in the legislature.
"If A-bian supports this, I would support his policies 100 percent," Chen said.
China has already approved of the possible direct travel of Taiwan worshippers to Meizhou, he added. Some reports have said that new docks have been built especially for the arrival of a large number of worshippers who are expected to arrive this year.
Such a measure, if treated as a special case, could have a positive impact on relations, Chen said.
Tsai agreed that the measure could be useful for promoting relations and said that she admired the worshippers who sometimes take the now illegal and risky direct trip across the Strait in small fishing boats.
"I respect their devotion; it is very dangerous. We should give this special consideration," Tsai said.
However, Tsai was unwilling to promise that worshippers could travel to Meizhou in June.
"I will look into the details," Tsai said, "but right now it's hard to know when we might be able to make the trip."
Worshippers at Chenlan Temple in Taichung County's Tachia township, have already begun to make preparations for a direct trip to Meizhou with a brief stop in Kinmen. The voyage would be made under the direction of the head of the temple, Yen Ching-piao (顏清標).
Yen, also the Taichung County speaker, has negotiated a contract with a Singapore cruise company and expects to take some 7,000 worshippers to China.
If the application is approved, the trip would be the first legal, direct passage of a vessel across the Taiwan Strait since 1949.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS