In his New Year's address yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen reminded the public of China's strong ambition to annex Taiwan, and said that his administration's new mindset and course of action for future cross-strait economic and trade policies would adopt "active management, effective opening," rather than the "active opening, effective management" that has been in place since 2001.
While delivering his speech, which centered on the theme of "Democratic Taiwan: Thriving Onward," Chen apologized for his unsatisfactory past performance and vowed to "keep a firm stance while moving forward pragmatically" on cross-strait issues.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
But Chen's clear signal that he would tighten cross-strait policies was at the heart of his message.
Citing the Chinese People's Liberation Army's deployment of 784 ballistic missiles that are targeting Taiwan, Chen said that China has aggressively expanded its military capability and is augmenting its combat readiness in a three-stage preparation for war against Taiwan.
Chen said that China has set the goals of establishing contingency-response combat capabilities by 2007 and building up combat capabilities for large-scale military engagement by 2010, to ensure victory in a decisive battle by 2015.
"In the so-called `carrot and stick' strategy China has employed against Taiwan, the `soft tactic' is a mere deception, but the `hard tactic' is real," Chen said.
Chen said that the Legislative Yuan's delay of the military procurement budget, the result of filibustering, has seriously impeded the progress of strengthening national defense capabilities and has also prompted the international community to express misgivings about Taiwan's resolve to defend itself.
In addition, Chen said that among his six major reform priorities, one of the most challenging will be the constitutional engineering project.
"I've seen the vigor of the constitutional reform movement in our civil society. I look forward to a civilian-drafted bill for `Taiwan's New Constitution' this year. Should conditions in Taiwanese society become sufficiently mature, who is to say that holding a referendum on the new Constitution by 2007 is impossible?" Chen said.
Chen said that Taiwan's existing cross-strait economic and trade policies have upheld the fundamental principle of "active opening, effective management" in accordance with a consensus reached at the Economic Development Advisory Conference held in 2001.
However, due to the complexities of cross-strait exchange and globalization, Chen said it was time for Taiwan to practically adjust related policies.
"The government must `actively' take on the responsibility of `management' in order to `effectively' reduce the risks of `opening.' The administration will focus on our long-term development, assume the role of a gatekeeper to guard our nation's economic security against foreseeable risks, and resist ingratiation or taking shortcuts," Chen said.
Stressing the importance of upholding "Taiwan consciousness," Chen said that both the governing and opposition parties have to work for the common interest for the sake of national security.
Chen hinted that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Given China's animosity, Chen said that no matter how cross-strait relations develop, Taiwan will adhere to the four principles of "sovereignty, democracy, peace and parity." With regard to Taiwan's future, no leeway will be given for either the KMT or the Chinese Communist Party to impose a set of choices that precludes democratic freedom or in any way contravenes these four principles, Chen said.
The president also shouldered the blame for the "failings" of some of his party members.
Yesterday afternoon, Premier Frank Hsieh (
Concerning cross-strait policy, Hsieh asked officials not to propose "opening" policies without a plan for effective management.
With regard to the president's concern about officials' integrity, Hsieh said he was considering whether to ask certain officials to have their assets put in trust.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS