Taiwan and China cannot put off addressing their political differences for the long term, Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said on Friday, adding that sidestepping politics in favor of economic talks was “unsustainable.”
Zhang said that Beijing “has the necessary patience, as well as the strong determination” to bring about Taiwan’s unification with China.
“But that does not mean waiting passively without doing anything,” he said.
Zhang made the comments in a keynote speech at the opening of the first Cross-Strait Peace Forum held in Shanghai, where he called for breakthroughs on “outstanding issues which prevent and restrict cross-strait relations from making further progress.”
He called the forum part of an effort to overcome the obstacles to making greater progress in cross-strait relations.
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement later on Friday denying Chang’s contention that Taiwan has sidestepped political issues in favor of economic issues.
Some of the cross-strait agreements that have been forged in the past few years had political aspects, which Taiwan’s government did not shy away from but handled in a pragmatic manner, the council said.
The government believes that “as long as there are urgent issues concerning the interests of people on the two sides, it must deal with them pragmatically,” the council said. “There is no such sidestepping of politics in favor of economics.”
Citing the ongoing cross-strait talks on the establishment of representative offices on either side as an example, the council said that the issues involved in the talks are very complicated, and some of them are politically sensitive.
The two-day forum in Shanghai focuses on four topics: the cross-strait political relationship; China and Taiwan’s external relations, security and mutual confidence; and a framework for peace.
Backing the event are Taiwan’s 21st Century Foundation, the Institute for National Policy Research, and Taiwan Brain Trust, while the Chinese organizers include the National Society of Taiwan Studies, six research institutes at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and universities in Beijing and Xiamen.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS