2021/05/12 21:13 TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (Wikimedia Commons photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Wednesday slammed China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) for improperly criticizing Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and threatening to severely punish him, CNA reported. In the wake of the World Health Assembly rejecting Taiwan’s effort to regain its observer status in the organization, the Chinese government announced that it had already made arrangements for Taiwan’s participation in global health affairs. In response, Wu made a rebuttal on Twitter, pointing out that the Chinese regime was lying and has no mandate to represent Taiwan internationally.
Ma keeps on parroting Beijing’s propaganda
By Liou Je-wei 劉哲瑋
During a speech on Saturday last week at a discussion forum titled “Resume cross-strait air travel: post-pandemic opportunity,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had criticized him for being pro-China and “selling out” Taiwan.
Paradoxically, instead of reducing reliance on China, the government had increased Taiwan’s dependence on it, Ma said, adding that Taiwanese exports to China last year reached a historic high. This shows that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is more pro-China and has “sold out” Taiwan to a greater degree than he had, Ma said.
The St Kitts Nevis Observer Reuters- Taiwan Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Joanne Ou speaks at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Ben Blanchard
Taiwan condemned China on Wednesday for seeking to use vaccines for political gain after Taipei’s diplomatic ally Honduras said it was considering opening an office in China in a bid to acquire much needed COVID-19 shots.
Honduras does not have formal relations with China and is one of a group of Latin American nations that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said that to buy Chinese vaccines, he would do as the Chinese had suggested and look for a “diplomatic bridge”. read more
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‘The last thing Beijing wants is a military conflict’: overseas Taiwanese A US-made F-16V fighter jet with its armaments on display during an exercise at a military base in Chiayi, southern Taiwan. Photo: AFP
While heightened military tensions over Taiwan are concerning for the island s overseas diaspora, many take the view that a full-blown crisis is unlikely - at least in the short-term.
Like most overseas Taiwanese, Bryan Hsieh keeps close tabs on developments back home and monitors tensions across the Taiwan Strait. He thinks matters are getting increasingly worrisome.
The 46-year-old product marketing manager, who lives in Fremont, California, said that while there had been various spikes in cross-strait tensions over recent years, the risks of a conflict appeared more real this time round.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the state of Taiwan-China relations, and urged it to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Speaking at a Taipei symposium on Taiwan-China relations, Ma said that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration had failed to come up with an alternative to the “consensus” and had fostered ill sentiment toward China.
The “1992 consensus” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge