Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The BBC interviewed Ma during his visit to the UK on his European tour this month, and was aired on Tuesday in London. During the interview, host Stephen Sackur asked Ma if his cross-strait position was to "side with China," due to his opposition to the president's move to abolish the National Unification Council and guidelines.
Ma appeared agitated during the interview, as he defended both his position and the KMT's cross-strait policy.
PHOTO: TSUNG CHANG-CHIN, TAIPEI TIMES/CTI TELEVISION
"You have in the past been confusing. You've said your ultimate goal is unification with mainland China; you've also said it's an issue that should be settled by Taiwan's 23 million people, and then you said it's an issue that should be settled by people on both sides of the Strait. So which is it?" Sackur asked.
"What I have been saying is that Taiwan's future should be settled by Taiwanese people. This is the consensus of all the people in Taiwan. And they are ..." Ma said.
"What about the people on the other side of the Taiwan Strait?" Sackur interjected.
"Listen to me. There are three options before us: independence, status quo and unification. At the moment, the vast majority of people support the status quo," Ma told the host, later adding, "but in the future, when conditions are ripe, if Taiwanese people have some other thoughts, they could still make that decision according to their free will."
The host also questioned the motives of the pan-blue camp in blocking the arms-procurement deal in the legislature.
Ma, while acknowledging China was a threat to Taiwan, restated his party's opposition to any "unreasonable" procurement bill.
During the interview, Sackur also quoted newspapers criticizing former KMT chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) visit to China last year as a "sellout" of Taiwan, questioning Ma whether he would also "glad-hand" Chinese leaders in Beijing.
Ma said that the KMT would resume talks, sign a peace treaty including a military mutual trust mechanism and try to reach an agreement on establishing a common market if the party regained power in 2008.
"We hope to use these mechanisms to bring peace to the Taiwan Straits instead of an arms race or a confrontation as the Chen administration has done," he said.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS