Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged Taiwan and China to engage in dialogue to avoid a war and promote peace, following his return from the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece, which ended on Saturday.
Ma was greeted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators upon his arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Ma said his speech at the forum was attended by more than 1,000 political, economic and business leaders from across Europe, who believed that maintaining cross-strait and regional peace is essential.
Photo: CNA
“I also called on all parties to urge Taiwan and China to engage in dialogue and seek peace,” he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party government should proceed with cross-strait relations by strictly following the Constitution of the Republic of China and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Ma said.
“Many of the experts at the forum agreed with me on this issue. I hope that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) can listen to and practice the views I expressed and heard at the forum. This is the way to meet the needs of the country and the people,” he said.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Olivia Lin (林聿禪) later yesterday said that Ma still subscribes to cross-strait policies that were predominant in the 1970s, adding that cross-strait relations then were very different from now.
“It is a fact that the Republic of China is not part of the People’s Republic of China, and vice versa,” she said. “The chief goal of our handling of cross-strait relations is to ensure that Taiwanese can continue having a free and democratic way of life, and that their rights can be protected. We also hope to do everything we can to maintain peace.”
Ma’s trip to Greece was marred by a controversy surrounding his title.
The Delphi Forum Web site refers to Ma as “the former president of the Kuomintang party — Chinese Taipei,” referring to his KMT leadership between 2005 and 2014.
The forum on April 21 changed Ma’s title from “former president of Taipei” to “former president of Taiwan” following calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ma’s office about the error.
His title was later revised to “Former Leader of Taipei” until it was changed again to its current wording.
Ma served as president from 2008 to 2016.
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from