The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called on China to respect Taiwanese mainstream public opinion and core values, as well as the party’s move to foster more constructive bilateral ties after Beijing publicly denounced its draft China policy.
The DPP arrived at a preliminary consensus earlier this month after months-long discussions on plans to revise the party’s China policy following its defeat in the presidential election last year. Participants at the last meeting agreed that constitutionalism should be the foundation of all bilateral engagement with China.
“The biggest obstacle to the mainland’s engagement with the DPP has been and remains the DPP’s insistence on Taiwan’s independence,” Fan Liqing (范麗青), spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press briefing yesterday.
“With the DPP maintaining its position on Taiwanese independence and ‘one country on each side,’ the mainland cannot accept the party’s utilization of several ambiguous concepts as the foundation for bilateral exchanges,” Fan said.
“The DPP will engage China with a positive attitude and confidence, hoping to foster constructive and well-intentioned dialogues, while maintaining the party’s values and basic positions.,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
“Unfortunately, China remains stubborn and has always tried to coerce Taiwan into a framework defined by nobody but China,” Su said.
He added that the DPP would not abandon Taiwanese core values in exchange for engagement with China.
While the party has not offered a clear definition of constitutionalism, several senior party members said it could be loosely defined as a dynamic process of governance based on the legal and constitutional order.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), a moderate on China policy, said that constitutionalism was a preliminary conclusion that has yet to be finalized and approved by the party.
“Beijing has always opposed Taiwanese independence and ‘one country on each side’ ... We should not be surprised at its longstanding position,” Hsieh said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS