On Dec. 31 last year, the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights passed the third reading in the legislature. This is a step on the way to turning these international covenants into domestic law, and as such it should be encouraged.
However, when ratifying these covenants, the Legislative Yuan attached the following statement: "The United Nations, in practice, only recognizes the right of national self-determination for occupied territories, trust territories and non-self-governing territories.
"The exercise of the right of national self-determination first requires the recognition and support of the United Nations' General Assembly ... The Republic of China has long been a sovereign and independent state, and does not need to exercise the right of national self-determination."
Foreseeing that this attached statement would be harmful to the nation, the DPP's legislative caucus had to put the brakes on the legislation and request a reconsideration.
Clearly the contents of the attached statement are incorrect and unnecessary and will harm Taiwan both internationally and domestically. The principle of national self-determination is not only clearly stated in the UN Charter, but it is also stipulated in the same clear and forceful wording in the first article of each of the two above-mentioned international covenants.
The first clause of that article states, "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." The second clause deals with a nation's wealth and resources, the "right of economic self-determination." According to the third clause, each party to the covenant "shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right."
The application of the right of national self-determination is not limited to peoples in colonial territories, and prior recognition by the UN General Assembly or its related organizations is not required.
National self-determination is a collective human right, the right of a people within a territory to build their state, maintain the independence and sovereignty of that state, prevent external pressure and intervention, strive for economic, social and cultural development, and decide their common political future.
Colonial rule, independence and sovereignty are all part of the continuum of national self-determination. A subjected nation relies on the principle of self-determination to obtain independence and sovereignty. Already independent states rely on the same principle to prevent invasion, pressure and intervention by external forces, to protect the completeness of their independence, and to decide their future.
Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state. It's future should be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese. This is an inalienable right and we should maintain and protect our people's right to self-determination.
Chen Lung-chu is chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.
Translated by Perry Svensson
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
Every analyst watching Iran’s succession crisis is asking who would replace supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet, the real question is whether China has learned enough from the Persian Gulf to survive a war over Taiwan. Beijing purchases roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported crude — some 1.61 million barrels per day last year — and holds a US$400 billion, 25-year cooperation agreement binding it to Tehran’s stability. However, this is not simply the story of a patron protecting an investment. China has spent years engineering a sanctions-evasion architecture that was never really about Iran — it was about Taiwan. The
After “Operation Absolute Resolve” to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the US joined Israel on Saturday last week in launching “Operation Epic Fury” to remove Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his theocratic regime leadership team. The two blitzes are widely believed to be a prelude to US President Donald Trump changing the geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region, targeting China’s rise. In the National Security Strategic report released in December last year, the Trump administration made it clear that the US would focus on “restoring American pre-eminence in the Western hemisphere,” and “competing with China economically and militarily
RSS