Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) yesterday said that Beijing was strongly opposed to any push for “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.”
Qin made the comment in response to a foreign journalist’s question at a press conference about the ministry’s stance on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) proposal of a “diplomatic truce.”
Before answering the reporter’s question, Qin first corrected the foreign journalist for calling Ma “president,” saying that journalists should pay more attention to titles when discussing sensitive cross-strait relations.
He then commented on the issue of Taiwan’s international space, saying that China understood Taiwanese people’s feelings when participating in international events and that Beijing’s diplomatic work was for all Chinese people in the world.
On the premise of the “one China” principle, China was willing to look at the welfare of Taiwanese people when coming up with a solution through cross-strait cooperation, Qin said.
However, he said that Beijing was “strongly opposed to any push for ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’ in the international community.”
Meanwhile, in Taipei, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed allegations that the “one China” policy was mentioned in the communique signed by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in 2005.
In an interview with Ma published yesterday, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) challenged Ma and his administration for failing to mention the concept of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” when Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan earlier this month.
In response to Ma’s argument that China had never mentioned the “one China” policy during Lien’s visit, the Liberty Times asked if the “one China” policy was included in the five-point communique on cross-strait relations signed by Lien and Hu in 2005.
“The ‘one China’ policy was written in black and white in the Lien-Hu communique,” Why didn’t you mention [‘one China’ with each side having its own interpretation in response]?” the paper asked Ma.
Ma said Chen and Chinese delegates did not mention the “one China” policy during their visit this month, and so his administration did not mention the concept of “one China with each side having its own interpretation,” either.
Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), head of the KMT’s Organization and Development Commission, dismissed the paper’s challenge, saying that the “one China” policy did not appear in the communique.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS