Former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) minister Katharine Chang (張小月) yesterday took the helm of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), saying that she hopes to meet with the chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
Chang, a senior diplomat who led the council since President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration in May 2016, was elected by the foundation’s board of directors and supervisors at a meeting yesterday afternoon, after being picked by the Tsai administration to succeed former SEF chairman Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂).
On Feb. 26, Chang was replaced at the council by National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of National Development professor Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“Exchanges between both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be based on mutual respect, as well as the principle of seeking common ground, while reserving our differences,” Chang said when asked by the media whether she would inherit Tien’s unfulfilled goal of meeting ARATS Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) in Kinmen.
Such a meeting could be held anywhere, as long as it is conducted in a fair, equal and respectful manner, she said.
The last meeting between leaders of the two semi-official organizations was in November 2015 in Taipei between Chen Deming and then-SEF chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森).
Communications between the two agencies have been cut since Tsai took office due to her administration’s refusal to recognize Beijing’s “one China” principle.
There is more China could do than simply granting Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), the wife of imprisoned Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), a visit to her husband in prison, Chang said.
“How can a small nation like Taiwan tolerate people who have vastly different ideas, but a large country like China cannot stomach even one individual like Lee [Ming-che]?” Chang said, reiterating the government’s oft-stated hope that Lee Ming-che will be released as soon as possible.
Following a number of failed attempts to fly to China to visit her husband in Chishan Prison in Hunan Province, Lee Ching-yu on Monday received a one-off document allowing her to enter China.
Lee Ming-che was on Nov. 28 last year sentenced to five years in prison and deprived of his political rights for a further two years by a Chinese court on charges of subverting state power.
The ruling came eight months after he was detained by Chinese authorities.
Although Chang’s position descended from the head of the government’s primary cross-strait policymaking agency to the leader of a foundation charged with carrying out policies, she said that what matters is not the level of her post, but the opportunity to contribute to furthering cross-strait ties.
“Although my jobs are in different locations, the work is all the same,” she said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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