President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will issue a written statement tomorrow to express his views and feelings on the Tiananmen Square Massacre in which the Chinese army crushed unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989, sources said on Sunday.
Ma has consistently commemorated the bloody event in various ways since 1989, including attending prayer services for the victims and publishing commemorative articles.
Despite his campaign promise to promote reconciliation and cooperation with China, Ma told reporters after his May 20 inauguration that he would observe the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in an appropriate and pertinent manner.
Political sources said Ma was likely to issue a written statement or have Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) read a prepared statement tomorrow to mark the incident.
Last year, in his capacity as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate, Ma contributed an article to a local newspaper in which he reminded the Chinese authorities that freedom and democracy should be the “common language of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
“Only freedom and democracy can truly move cross-strait relations forward, lead to effective dialogue and build mutual trust,” Ma wrote.
It remained to be seen whether and how Ma’s upcoming statement on the Tiananmen Square Massacre would impact on cross-strait relations, political analysts said.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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