Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
"The news report is total nonsense," he said at the Legislative Yuan.
Chen said it was true the government was mulling over the possibility of upgrading the links that connect Kinmen and Matsu to Fujian, China, no decision had been made or date set for such an expansion.
Chen came under fire last week when pan-blue legislators criticized him for failing to arrange direct charter flights between Taiwan and China prior to the March 22 presidential election.
There had been suggestions that the charter flights arranged for Tomb-sweeping Day be moved forward one week from March 28 to March 20 to allow Taiwanese residing in China to return home to vote.
The pan-blue camp accused the MAC chairman of purposely blocking Taiwanese businesspeople from returning home to cast their ballots -- an accusation that Chen vehemently denied again yesterday morning.
"Any talks of direct-flights must involve Beijing. Taiwan cannot just arbitrarily move up the direct-flight dates with first consulting China," he said.
It is rumored that at least 1 million Taiwanese businesspeople plan to vote for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) if they can return home in time to vote.
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
‘T-DOME’: IBCS would increase Taiwan’s defense capabilities, enabling air defense units to use data from any sensor system and cut reaction time, a defense official said A defense official yesterday said that a purported new arms sale the US is assembling for Taiwan likely includes Integrated Battle Command Systems (IBCS). The anonymous official’s comments came hours after the Financial Times (FT) reported that Washington is preparing a US$20 billion arms sale encompassing “Patriot missiles and other weapons,” citing eight sources. The Taiwanese official said the IBCS is an advanced command and control system that would play a key role in President William Lai’s (賴清德) flagship defense program, the “T-Dome,” an integrated air defense network to counter ballistic missiles and other threats. The IBCS would increase Taiwan’s
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