The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year.
Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car.
Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing.
The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires of the Taiwanese and went so far as to plan a violent attack on a democratically elected vice president prior to her taking office, the MAC said.
The plot exposes the CCP’s violent nature and proves that there is no goodwill in its attempts to communicate with Taiwan’s democratically elected government, it said.
Chinese authorities should explain and apologize to Taiwan and the international community for violating international norms and disregarding safety, the MAC said, adding that Beijing should also promise to no longer harass or intimidate Taiwan’s citizens and officials.
The international community should condemn the CCP’s attempts to expand authoritarianism in other countries and demand that it abide by existing international norms, the MAC added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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