China should not direct its anger toward Taiwanese for actions performed by the US during its disputes with Washington, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is also chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), said yesterday.
Ko made the remark in Taipei at a TPP-organized conference on the Ukraine war’s affect on international and cross-strait relations.
In a speech to open the conference, Ko said that he had not anticipated that Russia would invade Ukraine, nor that the war would last as long as it has, or affect global food and energy supplies so significantly.
Photo: CNA
The invasion has shown the world that wars can be unpredictable, and that with the rising tensions with China, “today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s Taiwan,” he said.
Being in the first island chain, Taiwan has irreplaceable geopolitical importance, and its semiconductor industry has a key role in the global chip supply chain, Ko said, adding that the international community should not let Taiwan become the next Ukraine.
Although many countries are friendly toward Taiwan, the nation must try to solve its own problems, he said.
Ko discussed Taiwan welcoming US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan and the need to strengthen relations with the US, while saying that China reacted “vigorously” to the visit by holding military exercises around Taiwan, banning Taiwanese fruit, fish and other food products to China, and imposing military threats on Taiwanese.
“China keeps saying that Taiwanese are compatriots, but when handling its disputes with the US, it threatens Taiwanese instead, causing significant damage to relations with the nation’s innocent and friendly people, as well as to farmers and fishers,” he said. “We express condemnation and protest against it.”
Ko said he would ask Beijing to not place its anger toward the US on Taiwanese, and would encourage positive exchanges across the strait to generate goodwill and avoid escalation of tensions.
Upon Pelosi’s arrival on Tuesday evening, Ko shared his thoughts on social media regarding Taiwan’s relations with the world.
“Taiwan should retain its subjectivity. We can befriend Japan and the US, but we do not need to become hostile with China. Taiwan can benefit from both sides and not be in a dilemma,” he said.
Some people thought that Ko was expressing an ambiguous stance on Taiwan’s relations with China.
Separately, the TPP held a national convention in Taipei on its third anniversary yesterday, at which an amendment to the party constitution was passed, stating that Ko’s term as chairman is to end on Dec. 31.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
RSS