The most urgent issue facing Taiwan's public is the need to recognize the threat from China, local and international experts attending a conference on cross-strait issues said yesterday.
"It is rather contradictory that Taiwan, in view of China's incessant and increasing threats, continues to relax regulations governing cross-strait exchanges," said Taiwan Advocates vice chairman Huang Kun-hui (
Huang was briefing panelists on the conclusions of the two-day conference which ended yesterday.
"Many panelists voiced concerns that Taiwan would be jeopardizing its national security if the situation concerning cross-strait exchanges is not soon reversed," Huang said.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
"[Forging a] cross-strait identity is the root to solving cross-strait issues," Lee said.
"Moves such as rectifying Taiwan's name and rewriting the Constitution are attempts to clarify the cross-strait identity in order to allow the normalization of exchanges between Taiwan and China," he said.
Lee disputed claims by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) that they would safeguard the Republic of China (ROC).
"Are we to safeguard a fictitious country or stand up for people's right to seek existence and development?" Lee said. "Are we to defend the ROC and thus sacrifice each citizen's opportunity for continuous development, or to stand up for each citizen's right to seek existence and development and abandon a fake country?
"Taiwan is part of the world, not part of China," Lee said. "Taiwan's public ought to unite and walk our Taiwanese path rather than that of China."
In a round-table discussion prior to the conclusion of the conference, New York-based political commentator Cao Chang-ching (曹長青) said, "Taiwan's people ought not to be intimidated by China but should seek the truth."
Cao pointed to Vaclav Havel's question "are you living in truth?" and praised Lee for daring to speak the truth about Taiwan's status.
"Whether it is former president Lee Teng-hui's (
"Only via a path toward reality can Taiwan have a future," Cao said.
Saying that people should cherish their rights, Cao called on people in Taiwan to help those in China seeking a democratic system.
"For China is an evil empire that deprives its 1.2 billion people of the right to make their own choice," he said.
According to Huang, an estimated 1,000 people participated in the conference.
The event included panelists such as Gordon Chang, China expert and author of The Coming Collapse of China, Hidenori Ijiri, a professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and Ross Terrill, senior researcher at the Fairbank Center for East Asia Research.
The conference concluded yesterday with Lee leading representatives from 16 civil groups on a stage calling out the slogan "building a new country and a new constitution through a national referendum."
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