“We hope that the ‘three noes’ will never be mentioned again. We also oppose a fourth joint communique on the Taiwan issue,” said Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), secretary-general of the Taiwan Society, at a press conference held yesterday to publicize the statement.
Lo said the groups hoped that Obama would declare a new “three noes” — no ignoring the opinions of the Taiwanese when he holds talks with Hu, no sacrificing the benefits Taiwanese enjoy in terms of freedom, safety and national security, and no underestimating China’s ambitions and the threat it poses to Taiwan and East Asia.
The groups also called on Obama to publicly state his assurance that he supports a peaceful resolution to the cross-strait issue, would provide Taiwan with the necessary arms to defend itself and that he would encourage the whole region, including China, to move toward democracy, freedom and to respect human rights and safeguard Taiwanese right to self-determination.
Chen Po-chih (陳博志), chairman of Taiwan Thinktank, urged Obama not to underestimate the damage done to the Chinese by the authoritarian regime.
“In the past, the US and others argued that engagement with China would lead to Beijing embracing democracy, freedom and human rights as its economy developed, but over recent years what has actually happened is China has attempted to use its economic clout to destroy these universal values,” Chen said.
“In the biological world, small species need protection, not out of sympathy but because the whole biological system would collapse if they became extinct,” he said. “Likewise, if Taiwan is annexed by China, freedom and the democratic system will be on the verge of collapse.”
RSS