The National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday that it is unlikely that the US president will say anything that will seriously affect Taiwan or make any new deals with China when he meets his Chinese counterpart next month.
The economy
"Our intelligence says that they will mainly discuss economic issues, such as the revaluation of China's currency and the trade deficit between the two countries. Intelligence has not discovered that the meeting will do anything to seriously affect Taiwan," bureau Director-General Hsueh Shih-ming (
US President George W. Bush will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Hsueh said the US would not like to see Taiwan make any provocative moves at the moment, adding that it appears to have understood the government's decision on the National Unification Council (NUC) and its guidelines.
Asking to comment on China's response regarding the council, Hsueh said that the "Chinese ambassador to the US asked to see US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the day after Taipei announced the NUC would `cease to apply' on Feb.28, hoping that the US would protest the government's decision."
China also asked all 166 of its allies to protest Taiwan's decision, but only around 20 countries had done so, he said.
Taiwan should continue to convince the international community that the decision has nothing to do with changing the "status quo," he said.
Not consulted
He said that President Chen Shui-bian (
"I was involved in the matter after the president and China made it public, and I think the president and his assistants made the plan," Hsueh said.
When asked if Chen would benefit from the move, Hsueh said he probably would.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS