Former Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is scheduled to meet with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) today in Xiamen as part of his ancestor-worshiping tour in China’s Fujian Province.
Wang departed for China yesterday.
Wang and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are attempting to find ways to interact with China to defuse rising tensions and avoid a war between the two countries, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy chief secretary Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said yesterday.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
If the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum can be successfully held by the end of this year, it would help to build the solid foundation for peace that people across the Taiwan Strait have been hoping for, she said.
Wang Jin-pyng established a think tank on Wednesday called the “Middle Way Peace Alliance” (中道和平聯盟智庫), while Ma’s foundation invited a group of Chinese students to visit Taiwan, who are expected to arrive on Wednesday next week, she said.
During a lunch hosted by his think tank on Wednesday, Wang Jin-pyng said he would spend his twilight years building a more harmonious political atmosphere domestically and contributing to cross-strait peace, adding that the think tank would recruit members across party lines to help him achieve those goals.
“Everybody hopes for cross-strait peace. Taiwan has bought NT$20 billion [US$650 million] of military equipment from the US, which has yet to delivered, and US president-elect Donald Trump is filling his would-be Cabinet positions with anti-China hawks. The cross-strait tension would only rise,” KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said.
Wang Jin-pyng’s appeal to unite Taiwan, contribute to cross-strait peace and facilitate reconciliation between the ruling and opposition parties is a good start, Lai said.
“We are facing a precarious international situation, and each of us should ask ourselves how we can contribute,” KMT Legislator Hsieh Long-jie (謝龍介) said, adding that the government’s national security team should spend more time thinking about ways to create peace and dialogue.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
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