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 as saying.
Wang is thought to be the principal force behind the CCP’s messaging campaigns. He has been credited with developing former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin’s (江澤民) guiding sociopolitical programs while he was CCP general secretary, and is said to have crafted former Chinese president Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) scientific development policies before designing and executing many of Xi’s social ideals.
Photo: AP
The “one country, two systems” formula that granted a degree of autonomy to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was first developed by the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), and it was believed to be the CCP’s intention to use Hong Kong’s framework as a template for a peaceful unification with Taiwan.
The CCP’s leaders are aware that China’s increasingly tough stance with Hong Kong has become a powerful argument for Taiwanese to demonstrate that the system would be unworkable in Taiwan, the report said.
However, Xi feels at liberty to break from Deng’s policy to develop his own peaceful unification framework, it said.
The report quoted a source familiar with CCP internal affairs as saying that an armed invasion of Taiwan is not being considered by Beijing, and is focused on plans to unify Taiwan diplomatically.
Success of the new concept would be gauged before Beijing considered military options, the source said.
Cross-strait tensions that have been heightened since August last year make it difficult to determine when Beijing might finish developing its new framework, the source added.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
RSS