Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-21
By: CNA

As many as 500,000 Chinese nationals could transit through Taiwan’s airports in the first 12 months

Chinese tourists at the Taipei Songshan Airport, May 28. (Photo/Wang Chin-he)

after a recent relaxation in restrictions on Chinese transit passengers takes effect, according to transportation minister Chen Chien-yu.

That number could rise to 800,000 in the second 12 months as more Chinese travelers discover that transiting through Taiwan on their way to third countries can save them time and money, Chen said earlier this week.

“This service could be especially attractive to those traveling between second or third-tier Chinese cities and North American countries or Australia,” Chen said.

Most travelers from cities such as Wuxi and Xiamen in southern China and Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan in northern China heading to third countries currently have to transit via Incheon, Tokyo or Hong Kong, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

The Atlantic
Date: Jun 4, 2014
By: Alan Taylor

Twenty-five years ago today, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) violently cleared Beijing’s Tiananmen Square of protesters, ending a six-week demonstration that had called for democracy and widespread political reform. The protests began in April of 1989, gaining support as initial government reactions included concessions. Martial law was declared on May 20, troops were mobilized, and from the night of June 3 through the early morning of June 4, the PLA pushed into Tiananmen Square, crushing some protesters and firing on many others. The exact number killed may never be known, but estimates range from several hundred to several thousand. China’s censors are blocking Internet access to the terms “six four,” “candle,” and “never forget,” broadening extensive efforts to silence talk about the 25th anniversary of China’s bloody June 4 crackdown. Here is that story, in images and words. (Most of this photo essay was previously published on In Focus)

A Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing’s Cangan Boulevard in Tiananmen Square, on on June 5, 1989. The man, calling for an end to violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way.

[FULL STORY]    [BBC VIDEO]

‘DISPLEASURE’:Article 11 of Chinese law states that protecting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is an obligation ‘for all Chinese people,’ including Taiwanese

Taipei Times
Date: May 24, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporter, in Kinmen

Taipei’s protest against the inclusion of Taiwan in China’s pending National Security

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia, right, shakes hands with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun as they meet on Kinmen yesterday. Photo: EPA

Law was expressed via Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言), but was rejected by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) at their first meeting in Kinmen yesterday.

Hsia told a post-meeting news conference that he conveyed the public’s dissatisfaction at the article about Taiwan in the law and a statement signed between China and Belarus, in which Minsk said it opposes Taiwan’s participation in international organizations that require statehood for membership.

Article 11 of the law stipulates that the protection of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is an obligation for “all Chinese people,” including the people of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and that no division is to be tolerated.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-26
By: CNA

The United States encourages Taiwan and China to continue their dialogue, a

Eric Chu. (Photo/China Times)

US State Department spokesperson said Thursday, adding that the pace and the scope of that dialogue should be acceptable to the people on both sides.

“We welcome the steps both sides of the Taiwan Strait have taken to reduce tensions and improve cross-Strait relations,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail in response to a reporter’s questions.

“We encourage authorities in Beijing and Taipei to continue their constructive dialogue, which has led to significant improvements in the cross-strait relationship,” the spokesperson said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/23
By: Yin Chun-chieh & Bear Lee

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) The 1992 consensus has been the most important

Hsia Li-yan (夏立言).

foundation for the government in making and carrying out its mainland policy in spite of a “subtle” difference between Taiwan and mainland China in their interpretation of the consensus, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) head Hsia Li-yan (夏立言）said Thursday.

The consensus refers to a tacit understanding reached by Taiwan and China in 1992 that “there is only one China, with each side free to interpret its meaning.”

Taipei has insisted that one China means the Republic of China, but Beijing has just emphasized the one China principle and has intentionally ignored the latter part of the consensus — each side is free to interpret what “one China” means.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-13
By: Staff Reporter

In a vitriolic response to a Taiwan-based journalist’s assessment of ways Taiwan could stave

Wang Hongguang, former commander of the Nanjing Military Region. (Internet photo)

off a potential Chinese invasion, retired PLA lieutenant general Wang Hongguang wrote in the nationalistic People’s Daily-run tabloid Global Times on April 10 that Taiwan cannot withstand a full-scale war with the People’s Liberation Army militarily, politically, economically or psychologically.

In a piece titled Taiwan’s Master Plan to Defeat China in a War written for National Interest magazine last month, Taiwan affairs specialist J Michael Cole had proposed three ways for Taiwan to overcome a Chinese invasion. First, Taiwan must win the war before it starts through promising an unacceptable amount of pain to the PLA, the leadership in Beijing and the Chinese population, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Editorial
Date: 2015-04-12

A regular forum between Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China that

KMT honorary chair Wu Po-hsiung, center, and then head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Wang Yi, right, attend the closing ceremony of the 8th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in Harbin, July 29, 2012. (File photo/Wu Jui-ta)

was originally postponed will be held on May 3.

The forum, formerly named the “Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum,” was launched in 2005 and has been held annually since then to discuss major issues related to cross-strait trade, economic and cultural relations.

Some of the consensuses reached at the forum have been put into practice, such as China’s opening to Taiwan-grown fruit and Taiwanese students paying the same tuition as local students.

The two political parties were supposed to hold the 10th forum in 2014, but as Taiwan was preparing for local government elections on Nov. 29, the timing of the often controversial meeting was not deemed politically expedient for the KMT, which lost heavily anyway, forcing President Ma Ying-jeou to step down as the party’s chair, and the forum was set aside for a while.     [FULL  STORY]