President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in his New Year’s address yesterday that Taiwan’s future should be decided by its 23 million people and that both sides of the Taiwan Strait must not fight over political power, but work together for core values.
“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait should not fight over political power, unification or independence, or international space,” Ma said. “They should be motivating each other to upgrade core values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
As the Republic of China (ROC) celebrates the centennial of its founding this year, Ma vowed to dedicate the next 10 years to building a “golden decade” for Taiwan and laying a foundation for another 100 years of the ROC.
Photo: CNA
“The prospects of the country and future of Taiwan are in the hands of its 23 million people,” he said. “We will use our strength to protect the sovereignty of the ROC, our actions to defend Taiwan’s dignity and our wisdom to build Taiwan’s future.”
In yesterday’s address, entitled “Building up Taiwan, Invigorating Chinese Heritage,” Ma said cross-strait peace is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in East Asia and the joint responsibility of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
He urged the two sides to deepen their exchanges, better understand each other, accumulate more mutual trust and gradually resolve differences. Under the guidance of “the wisdom of Chinese culture (中華文化智慧),” Ma said he hoped both sides could build a better future for the “Chinese nation.”
For the next century, Ma said he would like to see the ROC become a navigator of Chinese culture (中華文化), a model of democracy in the Chinese community (華人世界) and a global innovation center.
The ROC is an independent sovereignty, Ma said, and he hoped someday all yan huang zisun (炎黃子孫, or descendants of emperors Yan and Huang) would enjoy a way of life that is free, democratic and follows the rule of law. He believed that the dream would soon come true and that China could learn from Taiwan’s experience of democratization.
Ma’s comment on Taiwan’s future echoed that made by Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), who recently said the 23 million Taiwanese have the right to free choice in terms of Taiwan’s future.
During an international forum on cross-strait relations in Taipei early last month, Lai laid down what she called the seven core interests of Taiwanese. They are democracy, sovereignty, security, the right to meaningful participation in international organizations, the right not to be discriminated against, the right for the disadvantaged to survive and the right to free choice on the future of cross-strait relations.
Her comment, however, was questioned by Control Yuan member Chou Yang-shan (周陽山), who said the right to free choice ran counter to a core value of the ROC Constitution, a precondition of which is “national unification” with China.
Meanwhile, the council yesterday offered a boilerplate answer to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) New Year address in which Hu said China would insist on -peaceful unification and “one country, two systems” when pushing for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said both sides have used institutionalized negotiation mechanisms to resolve many problems. The Ma government would continue to negotiate with China and deepen cross-strait exchanges under the framework of the ROC Constitution and ensure that Taiwan is always the focus and the people’s interest comes first, Liu added.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS