Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) questioned Premier Simon Chang (張善政) yesterday over a Chinese official’s remarks that a project to build a high-speed rail system connecting Beijing and Taipei has gone through “multiple meetings” between China and Taiwan.
The Beijing-Taipei railway project was announced as part of China’s five-year plan at the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing on Saturday last week.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said on Tuesday that it is not China’s call to decide whether such a railway is to be built.
“It is within our purview,” Hsia said.
Chang said China’s unilateral announcement was not welcome.
Chiu yesterday cited Wang Mengshu (王夢恕), a Chinese National People’s Congress member and a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as saying in an interview with Hong Kong media that the project has been discussed with staff and experts from Taiwan’s transportation and construction departments “more than 10 times.”
“According to a Chinese news report from October last year, Wang, along with [professionals from other countries] in September 2015 invited entrepreneurs and experts from Taiwan’s RSEA Engineering Corp (榮工工程), Sino Geotechnology, Inc (富國技術工程), Sanli Geotechnology Consulting Co (三力技術工程) and National Chung Hsing University for a discussion about building an underwater tunnel and a possible plan for the construction of the tunnel,” Chiu said.
Chang said there were no officials among the visiting group, but Chiu interrupted him to say that RSEA Engineering Co, “while now a privatized company, sold its shares to L&K Engineering Co (亞翔工程), whose chairman, Kenneth Yao (姚祖驤), has a particularly close relationship with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).”
“I highly suspect that Ma has known about the plan all along,” Chiu said.
The lawmaker said that in November 2012, another seminar about a possible tunnel in the Taiwan Strait was held in Taipei, which Sinotech Engineering Consultants Ltd (中興工程顧問公司) chairman Tsao Shou-min (曹壽民) attended.
“[According to another report,] Tsao then said that the construction of an underwater tunnel connecting China and Taiwan would help cross-strait interaction and unification,” Chiu said.
“Who is Tsao? He is a former KMT legislator and was the director of the Taipei Department of Transportation when Ma was the Taipei mayor. His appointment to the chairmanship of Sinotech was also made by Ma,” Chiu added.
Chiu said it therefore could be said that the so-called Beijing-Taipei railway is definitely not “appearing out of nowhere.”
“Wang even said there is yet another meeting about the railway to take place later this month in Chengdu, China,” she added.
Chang said even if there were discussions, “I believe that they were all about the technology itself, as a kind of challenge to be overcome, rather than involving political considerations.”
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS