China's Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation yesterday slammed as baseless reports that Beijing had forced a plant owned by Chi Mei Corp (奇美) to close down over a controversial Japanese comic book.
"Nothing of that sort ever took place," Shi Guangsheng (石廣生) said yesterday during a press conference in Beijing.
The minister, however, used the opportunity to attack Shi Wen-long (許文龍), chief of Chi Mei and widely known for his support of Taiwanese independence, because of various comments he was quoted as making in the comic book On Taiwan (台灣論).
In the comic, Shi Wen-long was quoted as suggesting that all Taiwanese comfort women volunteered to work as prostitutes for Japanese troops during World War II.
He later retracted his comments and apologized for implying that all women could have voluntarily accepted such work.
"[This idea] deserves the severest condemnation from Chinese around the globe," minister Shi said.
The minister, however, said China would not take any legal action against Shi Wen-long, adding that Taiwanese investors are entitled to proper legal protection.
Still, the unattributed rumor has started other fires that the Taiwan government has been busy trying to put out.
One was that the government would be forced to rescind its review of relaxing the "no haste, be patient" policy that restricts China-bound investment.
Others feared that if the rumors were true that cross-strait relations would be influenced.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), fielding questions from opposition lawmakers, emphasized yesterday that the Cabinet's plan to relax the no haste, be patient policy "remains unchanged."
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said her council would go ahead and wrap up its review of the "no haste, be patient" report by the end of this month, unaffected by the rumors surrounding the comic book.
The MAC, which is responsible for formulating the country's policy towards China, indicated earlier that the Cabinet is likely to unveil a policy reform package in May.
Leading local industrialists have lobbied for more liberal rules that allow hard-pressed sectors to seek what they tag as a "second boom" in China where production costs are much lower.
Over the weekend a DPP lawmaker Trong Chai (蔡同榮)accused pro-China politicians in Taiwan of originally spreading the false rumors about the plant, alleging that they had called on China to "teach individuals who support independence a lesson."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS