More than 20 DPP legislators yesterday urged the government to immediately establish a direct transportation link across the Taiwan Strait (
"Direct transport [across the Strait] would not only be a way out for Taiwan's economic crisis, but also a turning point for Taiwan on the international stage. Moreover, it's also a way for both sides [of the Strait] and all political parties to take steps toward reconciliation," DPP Legislator Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said at a press conference yesterday, adding that the party hoped that a resolution could be endorsed by more than 160 legislators across all party lines before it is submitted to the secretary of the legislature next week.
While pressing the government to accelerate the implementation of the "three links" policy, a timetable was also proposed at yesterday's press conference.
The DPP is asking the government to immediately lift the ban on importing goods via offshore transshipping centers (境外航運中心), to allow the export of reprocessed bonded goods and to open Taiwan's Keelung, Taichung, and Kaohsiung harbors.
The party is also asking China to approve direct flights to Taiwan from the cities of Dalian (
In response to the DPP's proposition, Vice Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council Chen Ming-tung (
However, the DPP legislators said the council "is only paying lip service and is stalling the implementation of the policy."
Chen, however, reiterated at the legislature yesterday that cross-strait trade policies should not be made using extreme viewpoints such as the "boldly march west" (
"As long as [we are] well-prepared to control the risks (風險管理) and use crisis management (危機處理), the `three links' policy could be put into action step by step. Therefore, [we] hope both sides will sit down and conduct talks to create a win-win situation," Chen said.
Meanwhile, officials at the Civil Aeronautics Administration yesterday said that authorities have approved applications for an increase in domestic flights to Kinmen, in preparation for the lifting of the "small three links" (
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
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