Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), who has been labeled as a guru of Taiwanese independence theory, yesterday called on the government to implement cross-strait direct transportation and lift the 40 percent ceiling on China investment.
"I don't see any reason to oppose the three direct links or why the [current China-bound investment] cap of 40 percent [of a company's net value], which I had ten years ago, is still in existence," Lin said at the launch of his his new book yesterday.
The three direct links refer to direct trade, transportation and postal services across the Taiwan Strait, which were completely suspended in 1949.
Different times
"Ten years ago, we were afraid that the opening of the three direct links and closer economic ties would do harm to a growing sense of Taiwanese consciousness. But now, this consciousness has been on the rise over the years," he said.
Add to this an era of globalization, during which businesses, especially from high-tech industries, have completed overall arrangements for both sides of the Taiwan Strait on the basis of the principle of comparative advantages, Lin said.
"Considering this, the negative impact of opening three direct links and relaxing investment barriers on Taiwan's economy would be negligible," Lin said.
Inconvenience
He added that maintaining current limitations on cross-strait interaction would only cause inconvenience for businesspeople crossing the strait.
Lin is well known for his interpretation of Taiwan's history with a view that Taiwan has never been part of China and for his legislative work in building Taiwan as an independent nation.
He resigned from the Legislature last month to protest the party's handling of the corruption scandal implicating President Chen Shui-bian (
The DPP's Hong Chi-chang (
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
RSS