- News>
- World
Chinese state media note Taiwan resignation
Chinese state media noted that the resignation of Taiwan Premier Tang Fei, but gave no clues on Thursday to Beijing`s attitude to the change and the political uncertainties it unleashed.
Chinese state media noted that the
resignation of Taiwan Premier Tang Fei, but gave no clues on Thursday to Beijing's attitude to the change and the political uncertainties it unleashed.
State newspapers carried a two-sentence dispatch from the state news agency Xinhua saying that former vice-premier Chang Chun-Hsiung had taken over the position. ''Taiwan's original so-called 'premier' Tang Fei on Thursday announced his resignation,'' it said. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to invade it if Taipei declares independence or drags its feet indefinitely on reunification talks.
China's foreign ministry and the state council, or cabinet, both declined to comment on the change. The popular Yangcheng evening news ran the terse Xinhua dispatch alongside a report which said tang's resignation had caused Taipei stocks to tumble, forcing the ''Taiwan authorities'' to halve the daily downward limit on stock falls to 3.5 per cent.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian named confidant Chang as premier on Thursday, but Tang's abrupt resignation has raised questions over the stability of the administration, analysts say.
Chen swept to power in March, ousting the nationalist party government, in Taiwan's second democratic election.
The nationalists have been blocking attempts by Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, which espouses independence for Taiwan, to introduce economic reforms, analysts say.
China has given the cold shoulder to overtures by Chen, who offered to ease the decades-old ban on direct trade and transport links with the mainland if Beijing resumed fence-mending talks.
State newspapers carried a two-sentence dispatch from the state news agency Xinhua saying that former vice-premier Chang Chun-Hsiung had taken over the position. ''Taiwan's original so-called 'premier' Tang Fei on Thursday announced his resignation,'' it said. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to invade it if Taipei declares independence or drags its feet indefinitely on reunification talks.
China's foreign ministry and the state council, or cabinet, both declined to comment on the change. The popular Yangcheng evening news ran the terse Xinhua dispatch alongside a report which said tang's resignation had caused Taipei stocks to tumble, forcing the ''Taiwan authorities'' to halve the daily downward limit on stock falls to 3.5 per cent.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian named confidant Chang as premier on Thursday, but Tang's abrupt resignation has raised questions over the stability of the administration, analysts say.
Chen swept to power in March, ousting the nationalist party government, in Taiwan's second democratic election.
The nationalists have been blocking attempts by Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, which espouses independence for Taiwan, to introduce economic reforms, analysts say.
China has given the cold shoulder to overtures by Chen, who offered to ease the decades-old ban on direct trade and transport links with the mainland if Beijing resumed fence-mending talks.
Bureau Report