American legal experts described US President George W. Bush's concession to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
President of International League for Human Rights Scott Horton said that he was "shocked" to hear Bush's remarks and he believed Bush did not speak for the majority of the American people whom past surveys have shown to support Taiwan's self-determination and referendum rights.
Horton said that the remarks on opposing any unilateral change to the status quo in the cross-strait relationship were actually a result of the US' keen desire to get China's active support on the North Korea issue.
He pointed out that North Korea grabbed the chance to misbehave with missile tests and development of nuclear weapons while the US military has been overextended with two simultaneous military campaigns, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As a result, the Bush administration concluded that China's help was needed to resolve the Korean issue, Horton said.
"President Bush made the concession to China because the US is keen to get China involved in the talks with North Korea, and it is disgusting the US made such concessions to an authoritarian state," Horton said.
Horton said that most senior US government officials, however, considered Bush's statement as a concession that would be valued by China and cost them nothing.
"I don't think the Bush administration and its senior foreign policy advisors care even a second about the referendum issue in Taiwan. It's not important to them."
"What is important to them now is to bring China along as a collaborator in the North Korea talks," he said.
Jordan Paust, the University of Houston Law Foundation professor of law, also described Bush's words and the concession they implied as "frightening" and "disgusting."
Paust said that the US walked the same road of self-determination itself, and Taiwanese people should also be allowed to determine their own future.
Meanwhile, Senior Advisor to President Peng Ming-min (
"The status quo in the cross-strait relationship is that Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation," Peng said.
Peng said that it was China, by targeting 500 missiles at Taiwan, that was attempting to change the status quo.
Horton, Paust and Peng all responded to Bush's remarks during the International Human Rights Roundtable held by Academia Historica and Preparatory Office of National Human Rights Museum yesterday.
Also see story:
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique