China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) yesterday accompanied former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to Changsha, China, where Ma visited his mother’s former school.
The two took a high-speed train from Wuhan to the capital of Hunan Province, sitting across from each other with reporters on either side.
Song introduced the design features of the train, to which Ma replied: “It’s very spacious, very comfortable.”
Photo: CNA
Ma was on his way to visit Zhounan High School, his late mother’s alma mater. The visit was not open to the media.
Ma is expected to travel to his ancestral home of Baishi in Hunan’s Xiangtan County today, where he would pay respects to his ancestors.
During their previous meeting on Thursday, Song emphasized shared cultural links with Ma, the first former Taiwanese president to travel to China.
Song also called for “boosting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” while opposing “foreign interference,” a veiled reference to US support for Taiwan.
The comments underscored China’s efforts to bolster ties with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
Last month, Song met KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) while he was visiting China.
Beijing is trying to counter perceptions that it is becoming reckless amid increased geopolitical tensions.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) told business and government leaders at the Boao Forum for Asia on Thursday that his nation was committed to peace.
On Tuesday, China Central Television (CCTV) censored all mentions of the Republic of China (ROC) Ma made during his visit to Nanjing.
During his visit to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ma mentioned the ROC four times: once during a tribute to ROC founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), once in a public statement he gave in the compound, and twice when stating the dates of his visit and Sun’s passing.
At the mausoleum, he also displayed a piece of calligraphy he created, which he dated 2023, as well as 112, the equivalent year on the ROC calendar.
Those parts were not shown in CCTV’s coverage of Ma’s visit to the mausoleum.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) of the Democratic Progressive Party said that at a meeting between Ma and Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party Municipal Committee Secretary Xin Changxing (信長星), Ma was referred to as a “former leader of the Taiwan region” and “Mr Ma” after Ma called himself a “former Taiwan president.”
Xin belittled the nation and its former president, Chen said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Wednesday described those criticisms as “nitpicking.”
Ma highlighted the ROC on several occasions and called himself a former president and therefore stood his ground, Chu said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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