Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday denied a media report that China had asked her to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus” before she would be allowed to visit the country next month. Chen, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, said she has no plans to visit China at the moment.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported that Chen had planned to pay a visit to a northeastern region of China next month, but the plan was dropped after China demanded that Chen recognize the “1992 consensus” as a precondition for the visit.
Asked to comment on the report, Chen said: “The city’s Tourism Bureau is planning a visit to China next month; as for me, I don’t have such a plan at the moment.”
Chen added that she has always believed that, when it is beneficial for the development of the city and for cross-strait relations, there should be more frequent cross-strait exchanges.
“The two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] should work together to create a mutually friendly atmosphere by putting aside their differences while finding similarities,” Chen said, adding that there were very good interactions between the two countries when Kaohsiung hosted the World Games in 2009 and the Asia-Pacific Cities Summit in 2013.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) said China welcomes all organizations, government agencies at different levels and individuals from Taiwan, as long as they support the “1992 consensus,” oppose Taiwanese independence, and agree with the idea that Taiwan and China are “one country.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both Taiwan and China acknowledge there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.”
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
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