The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in no hurry to establish a China Affairs Committee, as the welfare of Taiwanese means more to the party than anything else, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.
The DPP has no timetable for the establishment of the committee, which will be an intra-party platform for the discussion and formulation of its China policy, Su said after the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei.
Su did not comment on the reported appointment of former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Su’s perennial political foe, as head of the committee.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“By saying that we would seek active engagement with Beijing does not mean we will be in a rush to begin the process,” Su said.
Hsieh told reporters that he would not shy away from the responsibility if DPP members agreed to his appointment.
Known for his advocacy of a constitutional consensus, also known as a “constitutional one China (憲法一中),” Hsieh said the initiative stresses that the Constitution should be the “bottom line” for competition between the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Hsieh said Taiwan should engage with Beijing as a whole, rather than via separate meetings between various political parties and the Chinese Communist Party, which would jeopardize Taiwan’s national security.
Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), chief secretary of the DPP’s legislative caucus, said Hsieh would be an appropriate candidate to head the committee given his long-term focus on cross-strait affairs.
Former premier Yu Shyi-kun agreed with Su on taking the necessary time to establish the committee, saying that the general atmosphere at this moment centered around people’s well-being, not China affairs.
“We should be standing on the same side with the Taiwanese people. We should do what people most care about at this moment,” Yu said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS