Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) met with Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), the party said yesterday, after KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) earlier in the day said that no such meetings would take place without first informing the public.
After a KMT think tank event, Chu said that Hsia would not meet with Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) during his visit to China.
Chu was responding to media reports saying that Hsia was rumored to meet with high-level Chinese officials this week.
If Hsia meets with any high-level Chinese officials, the details of those meetings would be made public beforehand, Chu said.
Hsia embarked on a trip to China to meet with Taiwanese businesspeople there on Aug. 10, immediately after Beijing held unprecedented live-fire drills around Taiwan after a visit to the nation by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Hsia’s trip has drawn criticism not only from the Democratic Progressive Party, but also from within the KMT.
Chu said the reports were not accurate, adding that Hsia would say and do what is necessary in China based on the position of the Republic of China and Taiwanese.
Regarding criticism from within his party, Chu defended Hsia’s trip, saying that the easiest thing would have been to cancel the visit given that going to China at this time was bound to be criticized and potentially harm the party.
Hsia is visiting China with the aim of helping address issues facing China-based Taiwanese compatriots, students and businesspeople, and to solve problems encountered by small and medium-sized enterprises, farmers and fishers, Chu said.
He added that he hoped Hsia’s trip would help ease tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
“This is not for the party itself, but for the good of Taiwan,” Chu said.
Later yesterday, at a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting, Chu said that he had met with many visiting delegations from abroad, demonstrating that the KMT is pro-US, friendly to Japan and in harmony with China.
All of those relationships are indispensable, he said.
Chu said he always tells visitors that the KMT pursues a national security policy based on defense and dialogue.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said of the trip that if a communication channel can be established during Hsia’s visit, it would benefit Taiwan in the long run.
“Of course, the KMT will be criticized, but for Taiwan, this criticism should also be endured,” Ma said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
A senior US senator on Monday questioned the willingness of some US allies to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) expects the US and Japan to respond in a war in the Taiwan Strait, he was “a little less confident what our other allies would do,” US Senator John Cornyn said. Australia and New Zealand have voiced support for Taiwan, but it “is a far cry from committing troops to repel an invasion,” Cornyn said during a discussion on China, Russia and the state of US military readiness at a forum hosted
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the