The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) upcoming attendance at a cross-strait forum organized by China’s Fujian Provincial Government, accusing him of working in concert with Beijing’s “united front” campaign.
Taiwan condemns Ma’s inappropriate decision to take part in a Chinese event created as an anti-Taiwan “united front” work platform, the council said.
Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) earlier yesterday told a routine news conference that Ma is expected to visit the province from Saturday through June 27 to attend the forum and cultural exchanges, including a rite celebrating Fuxi (伏羲), the mythical progenitor of humankind.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
China welcomes all Taiwanese compatriots to visit China to achieve the mission of a great Chinese national revival, she said.
The MAC said that laws banning serving or recently retired officials from making unauthorized visits to China, which started during Ma’s presidential tenure, were created to guard against Beijing’s political infiltration.
The forum is part of Beijing’s expanding campaign of pressure against Taiwan, with the aim of sowing social division and setting conditions for Taiwan’s annexation, it said.
If Ma insists on attending the forum, he is reminded to comport himself in a manner that upholds Taiwan’s dignity and equality, and refrain from allowing himself to become fodder for Chinese propaganda, it said.
The former president must abide by the stipulations of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the council added.
An official familiar with cross-strait matters said that Ma does not need to obtain authorization to travel to China because he had long stepped down from public office.
Most Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and local government heads are reluctant to attend the forum, as the party is facing a massive recall campaign, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
That has sparked alarm in Beijing, prompting Chinese officials to turn to Ma in hopes that his attendance would save them from the embarrassment of not having Taiwanese officials at the forum, the source said.
Since no former president of Taiwan has ever deigned to take part in a provincial-level forum, Ma’s attendance could be a propaganda coup for China, the official added.
Commenting on condition of anonymity, a source in the KMT said that Beijing has resorted to luring Ma to attend the forum with promises of a third personal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Another KMT source said that KMT Mainland Affairs Department head Lin Chu-chia (林祖嘉) could be tasked with going to the event in Fujian to maintain KMT-Chinese Communist Party ties.
When asked, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation chief executive officer Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said he had no information to share with the media at the time.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over