President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) latest comments to a foreign media outlet about his requirement that government officials refer to the other side of the Taiwan Strait as the “mainland” instead of “China” were condemned by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday, which criticized the president’s words as tantamount to proclaiming to the world that “Taiwan belongs to China.”
In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday conducted in Mandarin through a government translator, Ma said his requirement that government officials refer to the other side of the Strait as the “mainland” was consistent with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.
“The ROC Constitution defines mainland China as the ‘mainland area of the Republic of China.’ Therefore, as public officials, we must draft our official documents in accordance with the law,” Ma said, adding that the private sector was not required to follow suit.
Ma said the distinction between the “Taiwan area” and the “mainland area” was established 20 years ago when the Constitution was amended.
The ROC Constitution was enacted in 1946, three years before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led ROC government was forced to move to Taiwan after it lost the civil war against the Chinese Communist Party.
To address practical problems that had arisen from the implementation of the Constitution in Taiwan, a series of reforms, which included “additional articles,” were enacted between 1991 and 2000, during the administration of then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
The “additional articles” in the Constitution basically restrict the jurisdiction of the ROC government to the Taiwan area, although no changes were made to the “existing national boundaries” that also include the “mainland area.”
Unconvinced, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) yesterday said Ma’s remarks to a prominent international media outlet were tantamount to proclaiming to the world that Taiwan belongs to China.
“Does this mean that Taiwan’s future needs to be decided by all of the people in China as well [as Taiwanese] since they are considered ROC citizens residing in the ‘mainland area?’” Huang asked.
Saying that China’s oppression was the cause of the diplomatic predicament facing Taiwan today, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) accused Ma of echoing Beijing’s “one China” principle.
“Has Ma forgotten that he has previously said that Taiwan’s future should be decided by the 23 million people in Taiwan?” Chen asked.
In the same interview, Ma described cross-strait relations under his administration as being “the most stable of any time in [the past] 60 years.”
He defended the government’s efforts to pursue peaceful relations between Taiwan and China as “the ultimate goal,” but he also emphasized the need for the nation to maintain its self-defense capabilities, saying that Taiwan needs to purchase new F-16C/D fighters from the US and to upgrade its existing F-16A/B aircraft.
“The Republic of China is a sovereign state. We must have our own national defense. While we negotiate with the mainland, we hope to carry out such talks with sufficient self-defense capabilities so as not to have to negotiate out of fear,” Ma said.
As to possible political negotiations with China, Ma said the two sides had agreed to focus current efforts on economic, cultural and educational cooperation and exchanges.
“Both sides have agreed to start from economics and political issues are not the priority. Our approach is to put economics before politics, pressing matters before less pressing ones and easily resolved issues before difficult ones,” he said.
Also in the interview, Ma indicated indirectly, in response to a question, that he plans to run in next year’s presidential election.
“When I ran for president four years ago, my political plans were designed to be accomplished over an eight-year period,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or