Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2016-06-30

President Tsai Ing-wen has called for sincerity and flexibility from China in order to make

progress in cross-strait relations. Tsai was speaking in Paraguay on Wednesday on her first overseas trip since taking office on May 20.

Tsai was responding to a recent statement by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office that cross-strait communication has been suspended. That’s because Tsai did not acknowledge the 1992 Consensus in her inaugural speech. Under the consensus, both sides agree that they belong to one China, with each holding its own interpretation of what “one China” means. Beijing has insisted that recognizing the consensus is the basis of continued cross-strait ties. After Tsai took office, Beijing criticized her inauguration speech as an “incomplete report card” for not mentioning the 1992 Consensus.

Tsai said she hopes Beijing can be more flexible in its thinking regarding cross-strait ties.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An association of about 50 retired national policy advisers wanted to

nominate ex-President Ma Ying-jeou and China’s President Xi Jinping for the Nobel Peace Prize, reports said Thursday.

Ma and Xi conducted an unprecedented meeting in Singapore on November 7, 2015. While this was the first meeting between heads of state from the two sides since they split in 1949, no agreements were signed, and several months later, Ma’s Kuomintang lost power in presidential and legislative elections.

The former national policy advisers, who served during Ma’s presidency, met at a hotel in Taipei City Thursday where they announced their intention. The ex-president also attended the event, reports said, though it was not immediately known what reaction he gave to the proposal. He reportedly smiled when it was mentioned, but did not comment directly during his speech.     [FULL  STORY]

FOUNDATION:China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said a communications mechanism has been interrupted due to President Tsai’s failure to recognize the ‘1992 consensus’
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 26, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Beijing yesterday rejected Taiwan’s protest over Cambodia handing over Taiwanese fraud

suspects to Chinese authorities, saying for the first time that the cross-strait communications mechanism “has been suspended” since the new government took office in Taipei last month.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson An Fengshan (安峰山) made the remark while answering reporters’ questions about Taipei’s protest over Cambodia’s decision to accept Beijing’s demand and send Taiwanese telecommunications fraud suspects to China for prosecution.

The mechanism for contact and communication between China and Taiwan “has been suspended” since May 20, as Taipei has not recognized the so-called “1992 consensus,” which he said is the foundation for cross-strait relations that embodies the “one China” principle.

Beijing has repeatedly said that the new government of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) must accept the “1992 consensus” for what it called the warm bilateral ties over the past eight years to continue.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Sunday that China had asked the Cambodian government to extradite 13 Taiwanese telecommunication fraud suspects to China and discouraged Taiwanese consular personnel’s effort to visit the suspects.

Cambodian police captured 27 telecommunication scam suspects from across the Taiwan Strait on June 13, and 13 of whom are of Taiwanese nationality.

The MOFA said that its Ho Chi Minh City office had sent personnel to Phnom Penh to cooperate with Cambodian authorities on the investigation of this case and asked Cambodia to speedily repatriate the Taiwanese suspects to Taiwan according to the “principle of nationality.”

However, China asked for all the suspects to be extradited to China on the grounds that all of the victims of the telecommunications crimes were in China and strongly interfered with Taiwanese consular personnel’s effort to visit the Taiwanese suspects.     [FULL  STORY]

Economic Times
Date: 15 Jun, 2016
By: PTI

BEIJING: China today said public mood in the country is against Taiwan’s “independence” and any

attempt by the island to seek secession will be unsuccessful.

“Taiwan independence in any form was a flagrant provocation and would sabotage cross-Strait peace and stability,” An Fengshan, spokesman for Chin’s Taiwan Affairs Office told media here.

Responding to a question about a recent proposal by some Taiwanese political parties to challenge the one-China provisions with “constitutional amendments”, An said “any attempt to seek secession will be unsuccessful”.

He also rejected a statement by Taiwan’s cross-Strait affairs authority to term the cross-Strait relationship as one among “neighbours”.

“The mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, and compatriots on both sides are a family, not neighbours,” he said.

China claims Taiwan, which broke away from the mainland in 1949, is part of it and opposes any country according diplomatic recognition to Taipei.     [FULL STORY]

RETALIATION:The Paiwan children’s choir from Pingtung County’s Majia Township gained media attention when it sang the national anthem in traditional Paiwan vocals at Tsai’s inauguration

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 16, 2016
By: Wu Po-wei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

China has rescinded an invitation to the Puzangalan Children’s Choir, in an apparent retaliation to its

performance of the Republic of China (ROC) national anthem at President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inaugural ceremony, sources said yesterday.

The Paiwan children’s choir from Pingtung County’s Majia Township (瑪家), gained media attention when it sang the national anthem in traditional Paiwan vocals at Tsai’s inauguration.

The choir’s executive officer Tsai Yi-fang (蔡義芳) said the group was scheduled to tour China next month and Hungary in August.

China’s withdrawal of its invitation has compromised the group’s plans to tour Hungary, because Beijing canceled payments for the children’s airfares, resulting in an additional NT$1.3 million (US$40,072) in travel and related expenses, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Several legislators on Wednesday expressed concern about the rumor that China had put a ban against its students coming to Taiwan to study.

They were worried that if the ban is true, Taiwan’s colleges and universities will not have a collective annual income of NT$3.4 billion, which can hasten the closures of some financially stricken private schools.

In response to their concern, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao said that the places where the ban is rumored by the media to have been in force are not the primary sources of Chinese students, and the category of the ban is on “short-term students” instead of “degree-seeking students.”

However, Lin said the Ministry of Education (MOE) would check with its Chinese counterpart to find out if the rumored ban is true or not.     [FULL  STORY]