Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday invited President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to initiate cross-party talks within one week on amending the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to include articles requiring that cross-strait political negotiations be subject to referendums.
Speaking at a press conference at DPP headquarters in Taipei, the DPP presidential candidate said cross-strait talks should not happen unless both sides approached the table without political preconditions. Any political discussion that is relevant toward the definition of a country must hold to “three musts” — must have sovereignty, must be democratic and must be peaceful — and be subjected to a nationwide referendum, she said.
As party chairperson, Tsai said she was extending an invitation to Ma, who doubles as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, to initiate bipartisan talks on amendments to the act.
Working together, both parties could amend the act to include articles regulating any cross-strait political negotiations before the current legislative session ends, Tsai said, adding that it was the only way to ensure that any political cross-strait negotiations would not go ahead without public consent.
Ma, as the head of state, should not be ambiguous about cross-strait ties, nor should he take a rash approach to such issues, Tsai said, referring to Ma’s comments on Monday about the possibility of a cross-strait peace agreement and promise on Thursday to hold a referendum.
Tsai also quoted Ma as saying during an interview with Internationale Politik in 2009 that “the prerequisites to cross-strait political negotiations are respect for Taiwan’s democratic system, the admission that the Republic of China is still extant, the giving up of pre-set political conditions and the disarmament of all missiles aimed at Taiwan.”
If Ma recalled that interview, then he should not accept Beijing’s “one China” principle and the so-called “1992 consensus” as political preconditions, Tsai said.
The “peaceful and stable interactive framework” the DPP has proposed to establish with China in the past was not the same thing as Ma’s proposed peace pact, Tsai said, because the DPP proposal was from the viewpoint of a sovereign country, but Ma’s appeared to be aimed at concluding a civil war under the “one China” principle.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS