Taiwan To Evaluate China Trade Policy
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said his administration will review a decades-old ban on direct trade, transport and postal links with mainland China, saying the policy was "outdated, rigid and inflexible." Chen, inaugurated in the island's first democratic transfer of power, added that his speech was a statement of his broader vision for the wealthy, democratic island. He pledged to review the policy as long as national security can be assured. Taiwan has banned direct trade, transport and postal links with China since the Nationalists lost a civil war to the Communists on the mainland and fled into exile in Taiwan in 1949.
Chinese Ship Sales Legally To Taiwan
More than half a century of family division ended in hugs and tears of joy on Tuesday after the first mainland Chinese ship to sail legally to Taiwan since 1949 arrived at the heavily-fortified island of Quemoy. The China-registered Gulangyu, or Piano Island, docked to be welcomed by the sounds of gongs, drums and firecrackers, in another sign of rapprochement efforts between the long-term adversaries. Aboard the passenger ferry were 80 elderly Quemoy natives stranded on the mainland since China's civil war split in 1949. Among them was Li Mingfu, 80, a doctor of Chinese traditional medicine, who was reunited with his 89-year-old sister Xu Li Qin. "I never thought I would see you again here," he said, tears streaming down his face as he embraced his sister who was too frail to walk.
Taiwan's New Name Changes Annoy China
What's in a name? Quite a bit if you're talking about China-Taiwan relations, reports the China Post. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and is deeply suspicious of any move that downplays the island's cultural and historical ties to China or suggests the island is an independent entity. The two sides split in 1949 when the Nationalists were forced to flee China after a protracted civil war. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party headed by embattled President Chen Shui-bian, however, favors a stronger Taiwanese identity. On Monday, Chunghwa Post, the island's postal service, became Taiwan Post Co., a move the government said was necessary to distinguish it from the Mainland's China Post. "Chunghwa" is another term for China.
