A coalition of pro-independence groups yesterday expressed outrage over Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and liaison office in Hong Kong.
“China’s liaison office is a place where every chief executive of Hong Kong must report to after their election and Han’s visit was apparently meant to show support for China’s ‘one country, two systems’ proposal,” Asia University student Hsieh Hai-ching (謝海菁) said at a protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Tapei.
By offering to serve as a promoter for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Han is probably hoping to become president with the party’s help, she said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Young people are very worried that Han might be elected president, because that could cause Taiwan to suffer the same fate as Hong Kong and undergo a series of sovereignty crises,” she said.
Han and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must not “sell out” Taiwan, she added.
The protest, organized by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan and more than a dozen student groups, drew about 30 people to Jinan Road, many of them holding placards that read “Say no to ‘one country, two systems’” and “China would give neither bread nor freedom.”
“With Chinese President Xi Jingping (習近平) clearly set on promoting ‘the great revival of the Chinese people,’ I find it anachronistic and unbelievable that certain people in Taiwan are backing the ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one country, two systems,’ or proposing a peace treaty,” Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said.
He urged Han to explain when he returns home today what he had negotiated with the CCP while in China and called for the government to boost national security against Chinese infiltration.
Han last week led a 28-member delegation on a visit to Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen and Xiamen to promote trade.
While in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, he met with Chinese Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Director Wang Zhimin (王志民) and Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) respectively.
Han is scheduled to return to Kaohsiung this morning.
The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the CCP that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS