Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators yesterday urged the government to create a mechanism to negotiate with Beijing after 150 Chinese warplanes entered the nation’s air defense identification zone this month.
From Friday last week to Tuesday, 150 Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, Ministry of National Defense data showed.
TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said that national defense spending this year increased to 23 percent of the general budget, which is in addition to extra defense spending over the next five years to be funded through debt.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Beyond raising military spending and issuing condemnations, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should pursue other options, including creating a mechanism for conducting realistic negotiations with Beijing that would lower risks for both sides,” he told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
“Taiwan needs some way to deal and coexist with China, our bad neighbor, since we cannot relocate to another place,” he said, adding that the nation must “avoid being entrapped by attrition.”
China is expected to wield threats to foil Taiwan’s attempt to reassert its sovereignty, and continue warplane flights near its airspace to wear down its air force, Jang said, citing Center for a New American Security researcher Jacob Stokes.
Chinese state media would continue to play up the activities of its air force around Taiwan to normalize acts of aggression it might take, he said.
TPP Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that China aims to complete its military modernization by 2027, and its increasing dictatorial leadership indicates it is more willing to consider the use of military force than ever before.
Beijing has also ratcheted up diplomatic and economic pressure, such as by pre-empting Taiwan’s establishment of a trade office in Guyana, targeting Taiwanese professionals for recruitment and placing embargoes on Taiwanese fruit, she said.
The escalation of a US-China trade dispute has intensified Taiwan’s dependence on China-bound trade over the past two years, especially in the component packaging industry, Lai said.
Taiwan’s dependence on exports to China has increased yearly during Tsai’s second term in office, rising to 43.8 percent last year, she added.
“The Ministry of Economic Affairs knows full well whether China is dependent on imports from Taiwan or we are dependent on exports to that country,” she said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS