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.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS