The KMT has continued to defend a trip made by vice chair Andrew Hsia to China, in spite of criticisms from within the party, from the Mainland Affairs Council, and from the pan-Green camp...
KMT vice chair Andrew Hsia sparked controversy after it was announced that Hsia would be taking a trip to China, which began yesterday. The issue is particularly sensitive, seeing as this occurs immediately after unprecedented Chinese military live-fire drills surrounding Taiwan...
An annual cross-strait forum, the 14th Straits Forum in Xiamen, resulted in the KMT again vowing to uphold the 1992 Consensus. The Straits Forum normally takes place in May or June, but COVID-19 in past years have led the forum to be postponed to September 2020 and December 2021...
Recent comments by Chinese government spokespersons, such as Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin, have asserted that the Taiwan Straits are not international waters but are instead part of China’s exclusive economic zone. Reportedly, Chinese government officials have also begun strongly emphasizing this point in meetings with US government officials...
Taiwan has expressed dissatisfaction after China acted to block imports of grouper last Friday, alleging that it had found oxytetracycline and other prohibited chemicals in excessive amounts in grouper imports from Taiwan. For its part, Taiwan has suggested that China’s actions are politically motivated, similar to China blocking imports of pineapple, wax apple, and custard apple, as a way to hit back at Taiwan’s agricultural sector...
Former KMT chair Hung Hsiu-chu traveled to China earlier this month to attend the fifth cross-strait youth development forum, which took place on May 11th in Hangzhou. Subsequently, Hung visited Xinjiang, during which she made statements denying the atrocities taking place against Uyghurs. ...
The annual Taipei-Shanghai Forum took place online for the second year in a row, given the current COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to past years, there was probably less fanfare than before. This is not only because of the online format, but because of the way that the forum is tied to Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s political career, as a Ko initiative. That being said, there was some controversy about the cost of the 1,390,000 NT expense of the forum, when it was expected that the forum would be cheaper this year due to the online format...
The issue of Taiwanese extradited to China from abroad for criminal charges, instead of being sent back to Taiwan, has been focused on in the media as of late. In particular, the issue has become more widely discussed after a report by NGO Safeguard Defenders...
