The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said that it has approved an application by the Taipei City Government to invite Shanghai’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Deputy Director Li Xiaodong (李驍東) for a visit on Saturday.
The visit would be the first by a Shanghai official in three years, as person-to-person interactions had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Taipei and Shanghai are sister cities.
It is not yet known whether Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) would personally meet with Li.
The Taipei City Government said that it would observe all government regulations, ensure that the visiting group is low-key, keep the visit simple and not make any political statements.
The MAC said the government has yet to allow Chinese individuals to visit Taiwan for professional interactions and that all applications by Chinese to enter Taiwan are carefully reviewed.
It said that after conferring with the Taipei City Government, it has decided that the city’s application meets all required criteria.
The application was approved following a review by the Central Epidemic Command Center, it added.
The MAC said the Shanghai delegation would visit the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taipei and exchange opinions on city governance with the Taipei City Government.
It called on the Taipei City Government to make the group’s itinerary open and transparent.
It said that the Taipei City Government should also take precautions to guarantee the delegation’s safety, while ensuring that the group observes the regulations and respects the local culture.
The MAC said any interactions should be rational and equal, and based on mutual respect.
The government supports cross-strait exchanges that comply with Taiwan’s laws and do not have overt political connotations, it added.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS