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:
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS