China warned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday that its stance on relations with Beijing could threaten a hard-won state of peaceful coexistence.
China has slowly ramped up the rhetoric ahead of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, offering both economic incentives and making veiled threats that a vote for the DPP would harm vital trade ties.
Beijing will be hoping that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who has signed a series of landmark agreements with Beijing since he became president in 2008, gets back into office and continues his policy of detente.
China has made little secret of its distaste for the DPP, even as its candidate, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), tries to lay out a more moderate line than former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Speaking at a regular news briefing, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Yang Yi (楊毅) yesterday said a return to those days would be a disaster. Chen held office from 2000 to 2008.
“Upholding the ‘Taiwan independence’ platform of one country on either side of the Taiwan Strait would be a step backward into the era of Chen Shui-bian and that would inevitably threaten the peaceful development of cross-strait ties,” Yang said.
Yang repeated that whoever is in charge must accept the so-called “1992 consensus.” The DPP says the “1992 consensus” does not exist.
“Denying the ‘1992 consensus’ will wreck the basis for cross-strait consultations, which will of course be unable to continue,” Yang said.
“I will not make any comments about the election, [but] we still hope that compatriots on both sides of the Strait will work hard to maintain the current good trend of the peaceful development of relations,” he added.
Yang also announced that Taiwanese will be able to apply to set up small businesses, called “individual industrial and commercial households,” in China.
The first locations opening to Taiwanese will be Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, as well as Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Hubei and Sichuan provinces, with businesses limited to eateries and retail.
According to Chinese law, an “individual industrial and commercial household” refers to natural persons or families running such an industrial and commercial operation, and they can only operate businesses allowed by the relevant laws and policies.
Additional reporting by CNA
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS