Some 10 think tanks are considering establishing a "forum on defending Taiwan" in response to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s policy on opening up Taiwan to China, a think tank member said yesterday.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正峰), chairman of the National Prospect Foundation, said that the KMT administration had been “fawning on” China since it assumed office on May 20, while disregarding Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The KMT government’s policies could put Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk, creating the impression that “Taiwan belongs to China,” he said.
He criticized the KMT administration’s policies on commencing direct weekend cross-strait charter flights and allowing semiconductor firms to set up advanced 12-inch wafer factories in China, saying that these policies would only boost China’s economy instead of Taiwan’s.
He urged the public to “wake up” to the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has been cooperating with the KMT government to “annex Taiwan.”
Shih said the Contemporary Academic Research Foundation, the Taiwan New Century Foundation, Taiwan Heart — established by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀連), the Taiwan International Studies Association, the Taiwan Strategy Studies Association and Shih’s foundation decided to establish the forum to prevent the erosion of Taiwan’s international status and stop Taiwan’s isolation.
The think tanks are to discuss details of the forum this afternoon, he said.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
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