New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) is to lead a Taiwanese delegation on a tour of “key areas” in China, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) told Chinese media yesterday.
Yok and several Taiwanese from “various backgrounds” would visit Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces from tomorrow until Thursday next week, Ma said.
Delegation members would exchange ideas with their Chinese counterparts on “cross-strait relations and the rejuvenation of the Chinese people,” Ma said.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
“Taiwanese compatriots will of course not be left out of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people,” he said. “The mainland will work together with Taiwanese of all backgrounds toward harmonious development and peaceful reunification.”
The meeting would be the second this month between Taiwanese politicians and Chinese officials.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) on May 12 led a delegation to Beijing to discuss cross-strait relations, an anonymous source said.
Yok’s visit is expected to follow the same agenda and he is expected to meet with Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋), the source said.
Yok yesterday confirmed his intention to visit Beijing on Friday, saying he would be leading the delegation in his capacity as “New China Youth honorary director-general.”
He would be engaging in talks consistent with his hope for “peaceful unification with China and the rejuvenation of the Chinese people,” but would not sign any political agreements, Yok said.
He does not have the authority to sign any political agreements, so doing so would be fruitless, he added.
“Whom will I meet? Well for sure I will be meeting with [Chinese] leaders,” Yok said, adding that he would respect and follow China’s plans for the meetings, as well as its announcements.
The meeting would not touch on national security issues, he added.
Yok warned the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) against obstructing the visit, saying that there would be “repercussions” if it did.
The world would admonish Tsai for not protecting democracy if he were not allowed to visit China, he said.
New Party Deputy Chairman Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰) said Taiwanese are “Chinese” and lamented the need in Taiwan for “those who admit to being Chinese to hide” this opinion.
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