On Feb. 28, 2 million people took part in a hand-in-hand rally aimed at protecting Taiwan, demonstrating the people's will and expressing their voices to the world. Encouraged by this, the TAIEX index soared by 137.89 points to 6,888.43 on March 1. It was another example of my theory that "a successful referendum will boost the stock market and help Taiwan's economy." The fortunes of a nation lie in its national will. History has clearly shown us that the higher national unity is, the better the domestic economy, just as a country's economy will surely decline if the public's national will loosens and their national unity collapse.
Under the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's rule in the 1990s, financial and economic officials had mistaken China as Taiwan's hinterland. They thought that the future of Taiwan's economy would be in China, and therefore promoted "cross-strait reconciliation" and the "1992 consensus," driving both businesspeople and their massive capital to China.
As a result, the nation's economy drastically declined, as Taiwan dropped from the first to the last place among the "four Asian tigers" -- Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Low-priced shares nicknamed "egg shares" or "dumpling shares" were everywhere in the stock market. Even the so-called "land mine shares" -- shares of listed companies with financial difficulties -- were frequently seen. Runs on several local banks occurred one after another.
By 1998, a financial crisis had gained utmost urgency. The blue-camp officials were nervous and had no choice but to fork out NT$200 billion to stabilize the stock market. This showed that not only did the business policy of embracing China's resources and cheap labor fail to help Taiwan's economy, but it also accelerated the accumulation of bad loans and raised the unemployment rate.
August 2002 was a turning point for the economy, as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) clearly told the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations that there is "one country on either side" of the Taiwan Strait, awakening people's will and bringing a new hope to the country. Stimulated by this, the economy and stock market started to prosper again. His pledge of this stance and the referendum proposal made on Aug. 12 last year further strengthened people's confi-dence. The policy of investing in Taiwan first has been spiritually armed, and the nation's economy has started to take off ever since.
The success of the million-people-hand-in-hand rally on Feb. 28 was yet another demonstration of the people's will, and a reconfirmation of the policies of "Taiwan first" and "Taiwan's economic independence." The strengthening of the public's recognition of the nation has certainly stimulated the vigor of the economy. The significant rise in the stock market on March 1 did not happen by chance.
I want to appeal to the people: do not solely attribute this wave of economic recovery and stock market's performance to the US economic recovery and floating money worldwide. The US economy was prosperous when the blue camp was in power in the 1990s. But the performance of the US stock market did not stimulate Taiwan's stock market at that time. Thus, the improvement of a nation's objective environment also depends on the subjective environment while boosting its domestic economy.
I hope that the public can cherish these fruitful results. Whether the referendum is held successfully and whether Chen is re-elected are crucial to the continuation and further prosperity of such results. If the referendum and Chen's re-election bid succeed, the economy will further prosper, and the rise of the TAIEX index to 10,000 points can be expected at that time.
Huang Tien-lin is a national policy adviser to the president.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS