DPP officials yesterday expressed regret over Beijing's refusal to renounce military intimidation of Taiwan, saying the declaration has once again hurt the feelings of Taiwanese.
But the officials said that the public shouldn't be overly concerned with China's attitude, as it is merely a continuation of communist party policy and does not represent any new threat.
Taiwan received a flat rebuff from China two days after President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen told the Chinese leaders that Taiwan would not change its status quo if Beijing stops threatening Taiwan militarily.
But yesterday, China's Defense Minister Chi Haotian (
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
The secretary general called on Beijing not to consider Taiwan its rival and asked that China work with Taiwan to seek peace.
Director of the DPP's Chinese Affairs Department Chen Chung-hsin (
He said that while the government does not expect China's attitude to be easily changed, there may be room for flexibility in terms of the tactics the government can use when dealing with Beijing.
The president has proposed using civil organizations to negotiate with China. Beijing has said it welcomes that initiative.
President Chen's recent tough remarks on China have triggered public concern that his shift in attitude could rile Beijing and make the resumption of dialogue impossible.
But DPP officials have said they do not believe the comments would affect cross-strait relations given that the DPP is still committed to a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait dispute.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS