Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Wen's remarks were laughed at in Taiwan's media circles. Beijing has never implemented democratic politics but instead has repeatedly trampled on human rights. Now one of its leaders is at the UN, which passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948, and is vociferously attacking the democratic reforms being carried out by the people of Taiwan in accordance with the basic spirit of that declaration. Such a scene flies in the face of the UN's raison d'etre and is a blow to its dignity. The UN should not become a venue from which authoritarian countries can threaten democratic ones. It also should not become a place where bullies can interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Wen, you have given the UN a bad name.
We must ask: how could Taiwan's holding of a referendum in accordance with modern democratic procedures become splittism? When was Taiwan part of the People's Republic of China? Besides, hasn't the Chinese government always emphasized that a majority of the Taiwanese people long for unification with the motherland? In that case, wouldn't that majority vote for unification if a referendum on the unification-independence issue were actually held? Beijing would then be able to take over Taiwan without wasting a single soldier and fulfill its stated wish of "peaceful unification."
In this respect, Beijing should be bending over backward to encourage the people and government of Taiwan to hold various referendums, including one on the unification-independence issue, so that the people of Taiwan can choose their political future in a most peaceful and democratic way. What reason does Beijing have to attempt to stop the holding of referendums in Taiwan? What is Beijing scared of?
Responding to misgivings about the referendum issue on Sunday, President Chen Shui-bian (
Consider the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the more recent India-Pakistan missile crisis. In both cases, the missile deployments provoked an immediate and belligerent response. Now, China has deployed 496 missiles across the Taiwan Strait. Facing such a serious military threat, can't Taiwan promote a referendum to express its opposition to the missile threat and the threat of war? We must call on the US government, which has always prided itself on human rights and democracy, not to dance to Beijing's evil tune. Nor should it make comments that Taiwan is provoking Beijing by holding referendums.
If Wen really understands American democracy, and if he still has some conscience, he will understand why the people of Taiwan are unwilling to accept another alien regime that wants to enslave them.
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), former chairman of Broadcasting Corp of China and leader of the “blue fighters,” recently announced that he had canned his trip to east Africa, and he would stay in Taiwan for the recall vote on Saturday. He added that he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead.” His statement is quite interesting for a few reasons. Jaw had been criticized following media reports that he would be traveling in east Africa during the recall vote. While he decided to stay in Taiwan after drawing a lot of flak, his hesitation says it all: If
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Owing to the combined majority of the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), the legislature last week voted to further extend the current session to the end of next month, prolonging the session twice for a total of 211 days, the longest in Taiwan’s democratic history. Legally, the legislature holds two regular sessions annually: from February to May, and from September to December. The extensions pushed by the opposition in May and last week mean there would be no break between the first and second sessions this year. While the opposition parties said the extensions were needed to
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