The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday rejected a Reuters report that KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) is scheduled to meet with senior officials of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) during his trip to the country, calling the report “misinformation and disinformation.”
Hsia embarked on his China trip on Wednesday and was invited by Taiwanese businesspeople to participate in events in Chengdu, Nanchang, Zhongshan, Xiamen and Chongqing cities, the KMT said in a statement, adding that the trip had been arranged in October.
“The purpose of the trip is to continue the achievements of Hsia’s past trips to China, listen to Taiwanese businesspeople [in China] and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
“That Hsia would meet with senior TAO officials during the trip is not true. It is misinformation and disinformation. The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government has repeatedly claimed that it is strictly preventing the dissemination of fake news from China, but the party is working with the news media to spread false information and demonize a casual and legitimate trip organized to visit Taiwanese businesspeople,” it said.
To avoid conflicts, Washington and Beijing must maintain channels of communication when tensions between the two countries are high, the KMT said, adding that problems facing Taiwanese businesspeople in China must be resolved.
Hsia, a former Mainland Affairs Council chairman, has traveled to China four times in the past year and a half, including a controversial trip in August last year after China launched military exercises around Taiwan following a visit by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In his trips to China in February, June and August, Hsia met TAO Director Song Tao (宋濤).
Separately, Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), the KMT’s vice presidential candidate, yesterday in an online talk show said the party believes that Taiwan’s relationship with China should be maintained at the same distance as its relationship with the US.
“The DPP only honors a close relationship with the US and opposes one with China, but we are for being close to the US while maintaining a peaceful relationship with China… We like the US and are close to it, but Taiwan should not abandon its relationship with China, which is also important,” Jaw said.
“Leaders who cannot have a peaceful relationship with China and bring war to Taiwan would be sinners,” he added.
It would be in Taipei’s best interest that the US and China get along with each other peacefully, and a small country like Taiwan has good relations with the two large countries, Jaw said.
KMT presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) supports Taiwan and China resuming negotiations over cross-strait service trade and goods trade agreements under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, Jaw said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by