The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will continue to hold an annual cross-strait forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to maintain cross-strait peace and interactions, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said yesterday after arriving in Taoyuan from a trip to China.
Hung landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about 5pm, where supporters greeted her chanting “Sister Chu Chu [Hung’s nickname], I love you!”
“During my five-day visit, we were welcomed enthusiastically. Sincerity and goodwill were demonstrated by both sides at my meeting with the leader on the other side of the Taiwan Strait [Chinese President and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平)]. The Taiwanese businesspeople and students I met also recognized our efforts and expressed hope that cross-strait exchanges be continued,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Eight cities and counties governed by the pan-blue camp or independents are to sponsor a tourism and cultural exhibition in China at the end of this year as a result of this week’s KMT-CCP forum in Beijing, Hung said.
The KMT would continue to push for things that are conducive to the welfare of Taiwanese, she added.
A delegation of six KMT and two independent local government leaders visited Beijing in September, where they offered their acceptance of the so-called “1992 consensus” in exchange for preferential tourism treatment by China.
Before leaving Beijing yesterday, Hung visited the Taiwan Hall in the Great Hall of the People, where she said that the current atmosphere across the Taiwan Strait prompted the KMT to attempt new breakthroughs.
“It is an unshakable responsibility that we will not pass on to others… However, the mountain top cannot be reached in a single leap,” Hung said, adding that moving cross-strait relations forward required step-by-step effort, continuous communication, exchanges and mutual empathy.
Hung said that she has gained a lot from her exchanges with Chinese officials during her trip, expressing confidence that these gains would be helpful to future interactions and peaceful and stable development across the Strait.
Hung and her delegation first visited Nanjing to pay tribute to Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) at his mausoleum, before heading to Beijing.
She met with Xi on Tuesday and then attended the two-day Cross-Strait Peaceful Development Forum.
The KMT and CCP annual forums began in 2006, after former vice president and then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) visited China in April 2005.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and Beijing that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS