TAIPEI: Former Taiwan premier Frank Hsieh yesterday announced plans to visit China, a trip which would make him the most senior politician from the China-sceptic opposition party to visit the mainland.
The visit, described by local media as “ice-breaking”, came amid debate in the party about whether to change its China policy.
Hsieh, who was premier from 2005 to 2006 and retains major influence in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told reporters he would leave Thursday.
“The purpose of the trip is to build mutual trust,” said Hsieh, declining to say if he would meet Chinese government officials during the five-day visit.
Hsieh’s first stop will be the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen, followed by a visit to nearby Dongshan Island where his ancestors lived before emigrating to Taiwan.
Later, the trip will take him to Beijing, where he plans to visit the Olympic stadium and attend an international cocktail contest as a guest of the International Bartenders Association. Voters in January re-elected President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party, endorsing the Beijing-friendly policies he has pursued since he took office in 2008.
Anti-tank mine blast kills six Cambodians
PHNOM PENH: Six Cambodian farmers died after their truck hit an old anti-tank mine believed to have been planted during fighting between the army and Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the 1980s, police said yesterday.
Two others were seriously injured in the blast in northwest Battambang province on Sunday evening, according to local police chief Khum Soy, who said the victims were aged from 17 to 56.
“They were on their way home from the market when they ran over the anti-tank mine,” he said.
Nearly three decades of civil war have left impoverished Cambodia one of the world’s most heavily mined countries.
In 2011, leftover landmines killed 43 people and injured 168.
AFP
