The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) applauded former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) planned visit to China from Monday next week to April 11, and would be glad if Ma happens to meet with “old friend” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) told a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee yesterday.
The KMT said it has always supported cross-strait interactions to promote regional peace, and greatly commended Ma, who holds no official position within the party, for being willing to visit China amid fraught cross-strait tensions.
Ma’s choice to visit around International Youth Day is significant as it connotes passing the torch between generations, Hsia said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
It is hoped that Ma’s trip runs smoothly and helps stabilize cross-strait relations, Hsia said.
Asked for comment at a weekly news conference yesterday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said that the TAO would ensure that “Mr Ma’s” visit is arranged appropriately.
It hoped that his trip would be fruitful, Chen said.
China welcomes members from all political parties and other sectors to visit China and jointly maintain regional peace on the basis that they support the “1992 consensus” and oppose Taiwanese independence, Chen said.
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Ma enjoys stipends and other benefits as a former head of state, but has always touted the so-called “1992 consensus” and has rarely spoken up for Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) said.
If Ma finds China to be so good, he should move there instead of making a spectacle of himself and cheapening Taiwan’s democracy and liberties, Wang said.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Tuesday urged Ma to tell Xi that “Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation.”
Chen Chien-jen’s comments advocate Taiwanese independence and run counter to the Constitution of the Republic of China, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday.
“Taiwan is not a country; it is part of the Republic of China,” he said.
Hsiao said the greatest danger facing Taiwan is that the DPP refuses to follow the Constitution, constantly saying that it is preserving the “status quo,” but secretly passes policies supporting an independent Taiwan while being unwilling to amend the Constitution to legalize its own actions.
Taiwan will continue to live in chaos as long as the DPP is unwilling to amend the Constitution and continues to issue unconstitutional comments to sway public opinion, he added.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS