Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in Switzerland on Wednesday warned that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) plan to scrap the National Unification Council and the national unification guidelines may have "serious consequences."
Ma issued the warning while answering questions from reporters upon his arrival at Geneva airport from Turin, Italy, as he continued his five-nation European tour.
Taiwan's Representative to Geneva Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡), greeted Ma as he arrived at the airport.
Although Chen proposed the idea without mentioning how it would be put into practice, Ma said that he wanted to remind the president that such a plan could have grave consequences if it were carried out, as illustrated by Washington's reaction.
Peace and prosperity
Stating that the aim of the KMT's cross-strait policy is to achieve peace and prosperity for Taiwan, Ma stressed that he will advocate a "third path" for Taiwan -- maintaining the status quo while boosting bilateral exchanges and mutual understanding across the Strait.
Ma was expected to fly to London last night after his Italian visit.
Chen said in his Jan. 29 Lunar New Year speech that the time may be right to ponder dissolving the council and its guidelines as China had failed to renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
Chen's New Year remarks immediately drew a backlash from the US, which reiterated its opposition to any unilateral changes made by either Taiwan or China to the cross-strait status quo.
According to Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who met with Chen on Wednesday, the president again aired his views about scrapping the National Unification Council and national unification guidelines to counter Ma's "eventual unification" theory, which the president viewed as a violation of the Taiwanese people's right to decide their own future.
Focused
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
The "eventual unification" that Ma referred to must be based on preconditions of peace and equitable prosperity on both sides of the Strait and with the consent of Taiwan's people, Lai said, adding that what Ma talked about did not exceed the framework of the National Unification Council or its guidelines.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) accused the president of playing hardball by saying that he had unfairly interpreted Ma's remarks to the foreign media as a way of shifting the general public's attention from the poor performance of the government.
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
Three human skeletons and artifacts believed to be about 400 years old were unearthed by construction workers at National Ilan University in Yilan County, the university said yesterday. The discoveries were made on May 10 as workers were digging to expand the College of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science’s facilities, the university said in a statement. The skeletons were found at three sites, along with glass beads, copper bells and rings, discs and a fish-shaped metal knot, it said. The find is likely connected to the “Old Baili Village” (擺厘舊社, Bai Li Jiu She), an as-yet-undiscovered Kavalan settlement that has been mentioned in
RSS