Former Tainan county commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) yesterday said he was planning to hold a march of 100,000 people on May 20 to protest against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” proposal.
The proposal, which was mentioned by former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) in his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on Thursday, would have a devastating impact on Taiwan’s international status, he told a press conference.
“There is no better occasion than President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony for his second and final presidential term to voice our opposition against the proposal,” said Su, who has declared his intention to run for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chair.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
In the US-China Shanghai Communique of 1972, the US acknowledged a “one China” policy that stated that “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China,” he said.
Since Wu made the comment, which he said had been authorized by Ma, in China, the proposal is likely to mislead the international community into believing that Taiwan is content to be a “regional government” under China, Su said.
Also, because Wu made the comment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has long been recognized by most countries in the world as the only legal government of China, Su added, most countries would likely interpret the “one country” as the PRC, not the Republic of China (ROC).
“To say that the ‘one country’ represents the ROC is self--deception,” Su said, adding that the “status quo” of cross-strait relations is “the ROC on one side and the People’s Republic of China on the other.”
The 55-year-old said the KMT is retreating from its previous position of “one China with different interpretations” and Ma’s change of position on the major issue had not been authorized by the public or backed by domestic consensus.
“The Ma administration has to realize that it cannot do anything it wants simply because Ma won a second term,” Su said.
Su said the march would be bipartisan and he called for anyone “who finds the elimination of the ROC intolerable” to participate in the march.
Various groups are also -planning to stage protests on the same day, including pig farmers, who are unhappy with Ma’s handling of the lifting of the ban on ractopamine, as well as pro-independence organizations and supporters, who are demanding Ma grant an amnesty to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption.
Su said he would talk to DPP interim Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊) today about possible party support for the march, but would like to keep the amnesty issue out of the planned event, since opposition to the KMT proposal should be the main theme.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS