Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/05
By: Timothy Hwang, Sophia Yeh and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) urged Beijing, in an interview with the Wall Street

Journal on Tuesday, to hold talks with her government, saying she is open to meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), but without preconditions.

In the interview, Tsai mentioned on several occasions the complex relations Taiwan has with China, which still claims the island as its territory.

Tsai said the two sides should hold talks without any pre-conditions to eliminate misunderstandings.

“It has been a longstanding practice of China to set political preconditions before any meaningful dialogue can be held. I think this is obstructive to the development of our relationship,” she said. m    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/03
By: Tsao Yu-fan and S.C. Chang

Los Angeles, Oct. 2 (CNA) Former Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) called on China to engage in a “peaceful competition” with Taiwan, instead of doing things that would widen the psychological distance between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Addressing a gathering of overseas Chinese and Taiwanese expatriates in southwestern United States on a visit, Wu recited a classical Chinese essay advocating global harmony to express his hopes for cross-strait peace and development.

Wu said the two sides of the strait should compete with each other to see which side loves its people better, builds its society better and contributes more to making the Chinese nation strong and prosperous.

He cited for example one thing that he said would lengthen the distance between the people of Taiwan and China: China’s habit of preventing Taiwan from flying the Republic of China’s national flag at international arenas.     [FULL  STORY]

Some Chinese critics argue that President Tsai’s open letter to the DPP constitutes a ‘declaration of war’ on China.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/30
By: Hsu Chia-yu

An open letter by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members

posted on the party’s official website on Sept. 29 has sparked accusations in some circles in China that the president has “declared war” on China.

In the letter, published a day after the 30th anniversary of the party’s founding, Tsai wrote, “We need to resist pressure from China and develop relations with other countries,” and “we need to stop being overly dependent on China and build a healthy, normal economic relationship.”

The responses to the letter were varied.

in a Facebook post on Sept. 30, Kuomintang (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) argued that the open letter showed “the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC) was a burden for Tsai,” adding that “if Tsai doesn’t recognize the country, then she is unqualified to be the president of the ROC.”     [FULL  STORY]

POLITICS, DELAYS:Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang said that a delayed workshop on cross-strait law enforcement was linked to the state of cross-strait ties

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 30, 2016
By: Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporter, with CNA

A joint crime-fighting agreement between Taiwan and China has not been used to its full potential since

the Democratic Progressive Party took power in May, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday.

Answering questions from lawmakers at a meeting of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, Chiu said that although investigations, information-sharing and regular paperwork processing have carried on as usual, there has been a lack of administrative personnel exchanges between the two sides, with neither party participating in visits — as stipulated by the agreement — since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May.

The Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議), signed in April 2009 under the previous Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, is aimed at bolstering cross-strait crime-fighting efforts.

Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said that a workshop for cross-strait law enforcement officers that was to have taken place in June and July has been postponed indefinitely.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/26
By: Justine Su, Wang Cheng-chun, Hu Yu-li and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers voiced anger at China for suppressing Taiwan with its “one China” principle and at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for not allowing Taiwan to attend its assembly this year.

Taiwan was not invited to the 39th session of the ICAO Assembly from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7 in Montreal, most likely because of the objections of Beijing, which regularly uses its clout to keep Taiwan out of major international organizations and activities.

In a statement issued on Monday, the DPP’s legislative caucus argued that aviation safety is crucial to the safety and welfare of passengers and that the issue should not be addressed differently based on ethnicity or nationality.

Moreover, no political preconditions should color the issue, the statement said.     [FULL  STORY]

Legislators say China’s growing influence on Hong Kong is behind the city’s immigration authority’s denial of their visa applications.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/26
By: Mo Tz-pin

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Karen Yu’s (余宛如) application for a Hong Kong entry

visa was refused on Sept. 24, making her the third DPP legislator to be denied entry into the city since August.

Yu was invited to the 2016 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) held in Hong Kong Sept. 25-27 as one of the speakers. The legislator applied for a visa two weeks ago but was informed today that the application was turned down
.
The legislator participated in the 2015 Milan SEWF and 2014 Seoul SEWF. Yu says she is sorry she could not take part in the event this year to share Taiwan’s social enterprise experience with the world, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported.

Yu’s name is still on the speakers’ list and the SEWF has yet to make any comment.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/18
By: Lawrence Chiu, Liu Kuan-ting, and S.C. Chang

Beijing, Sept. 18 (CNA) Eight city and county government leaders of Taiwan held a “breakthrough”

meeting with Beijing officials Sunday, urging China to seek ways to “reset and restart” cross-strait ties.

Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌), magistrate of Miaoli County, said his delegation was calling for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to choose a “broad avenue” on which economic, tourism, cultural and agricultural cooperation between Taiwan and China can be continued as they need to face international competition in these areas.

He said if cross-strait ties continued to be deadlocked, it will hurt both the government and the people. “Our visit to Beijing is a breakthrough since the new government was launched in May,” he added.

Hsu, of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), made his appeal to Zhang Zhijun, China’s Taiwan Affairs minister, who reiterated that the “one China” principle embodied in its “1992 consensus” with Taiwan is the political foundation on which cross-strait exchanges will be conducted.     [FULL  STORY]

PROPAGANDA:By hosting Taiwanese officials, Beijing runs the risk of admitting that Chinese tourists to Taiwan are a tool of united front political warfare, a professor said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 19, 2016
By: Chung Li-hua, Lin Liang-sheng and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Setting preconditions for cross-strait exchanges are not conducive to “meaningful dialogue,”

Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said yesterday.

“Preconditions are not necessary for meaningful dialogue; only those [without preconditions] can facilitate genuine understanding between the two sides. Maintaining peace and stability across the Strait is the responsibility of both sides, and the Presidential Office believes that any initiative that improves mutual understanding is a worthy and positive effort,” Huang said.

Huang’s remark was in response to comments made yesterday by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), who said that as long as the political foundation of the so-called “1992 consensus” remains solid, cross-strait exchanges can still be pushed forward.

The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000 — refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.     [FULL  STORY]