The new Cabinet led by premier-designate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) should set up a special taskforce to work on linking Taiwan to the world to prevent Taiwan from being marginalized in the era of globalization, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
"Taiwan should not position itself as part of China. It's part of the world. So I hope to see Su's team concentrate its efforts on securing Taiwan's survival in the era of globalization," Lu told reporters outside CTiTV's studio.
Lu spoke to reporters after being interviewed by talk-show host Sisy Chen (陳文茜).
During the interview Chen questioned the lack of international experience in Su's team and Lu said the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) long-term promotion of Taiwanese consciousness had led to a lack of effective strategies to deal with the global China fever.
Lu said Taiwan has to keep its own identity and not deliberately fight China at a time when the Chinese market is attracting more countries.
However, Taiwan has reached a critical point where it has to find a way out wisely and the new Cabinet has no time to waste, Lu said.
"To reduce our risks, I've brought up new economic strategies to shift certain of Taiwan's firms investing in China diplomatic allies in Central America," Lu said.
"However, I'm not sure if any of the new Cabinet members have ever thought about where to position Taiwan on the globalization spectrum."
Chen insisted that most of Su's appointees lack international experience, except National Science Council chief Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who is a health expert and a fellow of the Academia Sinica, and Vice premier-designate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a former chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council.
She said that Taiwan's slow growth worried many local and foreign investors, who have wondered why countries such as Singapore and South Korea have performed better.
Lu said that economic concerns of foreign investors in Taiwan and Taiwanese businesspeople have ignored China's persistent animosity toward Taiwan.
Lu said new Cabinet might not end policies that welcome Chinese tourists or that allow certain kinds of non-sensitive cross-strait exchange activities. She said the government would have no choice but to strictly implement policies on intelligence-gathering, smuggling and prostitution involving Chinese.
"Don't forget -- Taiwan is the only country facing China's military threats," Lu said.
When asked about former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung's (
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS