Honoring Peng's manifesto
In 1964, Peng Ming-min (
Over the past 40 years, this manifesto has provided the guiding principles in the struggle for an independent, fully free, sovereign and democratic Taiwan for Taiwanese all over the world.
When we reread this manifesto on its 40th anniversary today, we can see that the nation's politics and social systems have been evolving along the path laid out in this document. Some examples of this evolution are the abolition of martial law, the removal of bans on forming political parties, the removal of censorship and bans on publishing newspapers, the reelection of the national legislatures and the establishment of a popular election for the head of state. All of these things represent implementations of the manifesto's guiding principles.
Some of the goals that remain to be accomplished are rewriting the Constitution to guarantee basic human rights, achieving true democracy by establishing an effective administration responsible to the people, unifying the country's population regardless of a person's place of origin and establishing a new country with a new government in order to participate in the UN as a new member -- and to strive together with other nations for world peace. Fortunately, we have begun to achieve these remaining goals.
The Taiwanese are pleased that former president Lee Tung-hui (
The commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Manifesto of Taiwanese Self-Salvation recognizes and honors Peng's lifelong devotion to Taiwan. It also provides a time for us to review and to rethink our history. The commemoration should inspire us to redouble our efforts to speed, deepen and strengthen our democracy. We are reminded to hope that the remaining goals of the manifesto will be accomplished soon.
Thomas Chen
New York
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