In an open letter published yesterday, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) questioned President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) ability to lead the country.
Tsai said she had three questions for Ma on cross-strait relations: “Is Taiwan a nation? Are Taiwan and China the same nation? And is ‘one country, two areas’ (一國二區) a core principle for future cross-strait policy?”
“Beijing will pay close attention to Ma’s inauguration address on May 20, hoping he says ‘Taiwan and the Mainland belong to one China’ — the so-called ‘Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and Chinese Communist Party consensus,’” Tsai said.
Ma’s “one country, two areas” proposal violates the Constitution — the country’s supreme legal statute — which exists to protect Taiwan, the homeland and its people’s basic rights, Tsai wrote.
The Republic of China is a sovereign country and the mention of “one country, two areas” in the constitutional structure is to regulate the rights and obligations of Taiwanese and Chinese, not to regulate relations between Taiwan and China, she said.
Tsai asked Ma to stop jeopardizing Taiwan’s national status through his misinterpretation of the Constitution.
On the issues of easing US beef imports, an insistence on raising fuel and electricity prices as well as levying a tax on capital gains, Tsai said the policymaking processes and their implementation suffered from a lack of democratic communication and “rational persuasiveness,” which caused “great social grievance” and which was forcing the public to take to the streets.
Tsai urged Ma to respond to public anxieties, think about a full Cabinet reshuffle, choose a premier with a good reputation and resist external pressures.
Tsai added that the government was a mess and said the Executive Yuan had been stripped of its rights with most ministers taking their orders directly from the Presidential Office.
Ma would do what he wants in his second term because he faces no electoral pressure, she wrote. As a result, Ma could abuse his powers and lead Taiwan back into an authoritarian era, she said.
In response to the letter, and similar criticism by Tsai in a recent radio interview, the Presidential Office said Ma’s policies were based on the principle of “prioritizing Taiwan and benefiting the people.”
Ma’s office issued the statement yesterday morning, following a series of negative appraisals by Tsai of what she said is Ma’s one-man policymaking process and his disputed proposal of “one country, two areas.”
The government has operated within the framework of the Constitution and remains open to different voices from all sectors of society, it said, adding that Ma would continue to listen to and respond to public opinion.
As for Ma’s “one country, two areas” formula, it reiterated that the design of “Taiwan and Mainland [sic] areas” as stipulated in the Constitution and the Act Governing the Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) had remained the same since former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was in office.
It said Tsai should know that Ma has not worked against the Constitution given her background and length of service as former Mainland Affairs Council chairperson and former vice premier.
Translation by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a