The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is to impose stricter auditing during the approvals process for Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling’s (饒慶鈴) proposed China visits, after she failed to disclose her meeting with Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) last month, a council official said yesterday.
In her submitted itinerary to the MAC for her Jan. 4 to 9 trip, Yao, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), only listed travel to Beijing on the first day, promoting agricultural goods at a fair on Jan. 5, visiting companies and commercial markets on Jan. 6, before heading to Shanghai for business meetings for the following two days, before returning to Taiwan on Jan. 9.
Yao’s itinerary did not list any meeting with Song, which took place on Jan. 4 at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Photo: CNA
During their meeting, media quoted Song as saying: “We are from the same family on both sides, and must insist on upholding the 1992 consensus and oppose Taiwan independence.”
Yao was quoted as thanking the Chinese government for restoring imports of custard apples from Taitung, adding that “peaceful development could be based on the 1992 consensus and opposition to Taiwan independence.”
The “1992 consensus” 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.
The MAC said the Act Governing Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates county commissioners and city mayors, as well as civil officials of certain ranks, must file an application when planning to visit China, and list meetings with any government representatives holding a position in the CCP.
The MAC would impose stricter auditing when Yao applies for trips to China, and might not grant approval next time, a MAC official said on the condition of anonymity.
Yao yesterday said the visit was to promote improved interactions, and to boost fruit sales for farmers in Taitung, adding that “the visit fully complied with my conscience, with our government and it was for the benefit of Taitung’s farmers.”
Additional reporting by Liu Jen-wei
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS