China plans to formulate “new language” toward relations with Taiwan when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holds a key congress later this year, a senior Chinese official said on Friday, holding out hope for an improvement in strained ties.
China has heaped pressure on Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office last year, cutting off a formal dialogue mechanism and taking two of the nation’s diplomatic allies in Africa.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, suspecting she wants to push for formal independence, a red line for Beijing, although she says she wants to maintain peace with China.
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament, All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots president and National People’s Congress member Wang Yifu (汪毅夫) said he had always been optimistic about relations with Taiwan.
“I hope cross-Taiwan Straits relations will start to warm ... after the new language regarding cross-Taiwan Straits in the work report of the 19th congress of the [Chinese] Communist Party,” said Wang, who holds a rank equivalent to a Cabinet minister, without elaborating.
The once-every-five-years congress is China’s most important political event of the year, when a new generation of senior leaders are to be ushered in, although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to remain in office.
Wang is a member of the Chinese-appointed Taiwan delegation to parliament, made up of defectors, their descendents and others who trace their roots to Taiwan, to support China’s position that the nation is their sovereign territory.
Wang said that if Taiwan formally declared independence it would “bring catastrophic harm” to the nation.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) told parliament’s Taiwan delegation this week that the end of the road of Taiwanese independence is unification.
“It wasn’t tough talk, but the inescapable truth,” said Wang, whose ancestry is Taiwanese, but who was born in China in 1950.
A domestically developed “suicide drone,” also known as a loitering munition, would be tested and evaluated in July, and could enter mass production next year, Taiwan’s weapons developer said on Wednesday. The yet-to-be-named drone was among nine drone models unveiled by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on Tuesday. The drone has been dubbed the “Taiwanese switchblade” by Chinese-language media, due to its similarity to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which has been used by Ukraine in counterattacks during Russia’s invasion. It has a range of more than 10km, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and an electro-optical
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
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