A student delegation organized by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation to visit China was castigated by a government official yesterday as undermining the government’s handling of cross-strait relations.
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation CEO Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) on Friday headed a 30-person delegation to China’s Shandong Province, stating that only through exchanges could cross-strait relations be maintained and confrontation avoided.
The 17 measures recently announced by President William Lai (賴清德) were an administrative move that restricted rights and freedoms, and use anti-China ideology to malign the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution, he said, adding that such acts serve only to bring both sides closer to the brink of war.
Photo: Reuters
Hsiao was referring to measures Lai issued following a national security meeting on March 13, which stated that China is a "ostile foreign force" and that China's efforts to infiltrate Taiwanese society and sow division through influence operations had intensified. The measures include reinstating courts martial, tightening requirements for residents from China, Hong Kong, and Macau to obtain Taiwanese identifications, and limiting access to Taiwan for individuals with "United Front backgrounds," among others.
The official yesterday questioned why Ma and his aides had not spoken of China’s daily incursions to intimidate Taiwan, or condemned China when it last year announced 22 guidelines to penalize “die-hard” Taiwanese independence separatists, including the use of the death penalty.
“[Former president] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] and Hsiao had not mentioned China’s military intimidation against Taiwan, while they organize more cross-strait exchanges to promote peace. They are using students to visit China to carry out Beijing’s propaganda and ‘united front’ ploys. But Ma and Hsiao dared not ask the Chinese government to change their ways, and never asked Beijing to take a more friendly approach toward Taiwan,” the official said.
“Now is a very testing time for cross-strait relations, mainly because China has escalated its military intimidation, taking a hybrid warfare approach to ratchet up tensions against Taiwan. But Ma seems blind to all this. This latest Chinese visit is for Ma to help Beijing gloss over the military tension, to whitewash China’s hostile aggression in the region,” the official added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS