Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday expressed their disapproval of calls to freeze the Taiwanese independence clause in the party’s charter, a day before a party meeting scheduled for a discussion on the proposed freeze.
Tsai said the independence clause has been the party’s objective since its foundation, and it is also the ideal that party members and most Taiwanese have been pursuing.
With Taiwan’s democratization, the “Taiwanese consciousness” has been determinedly formed and these values of identifying with Taiwan and insisting on the nation’s independence and autonomy have already become a “natural ingredient” of the younger generation, Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
“How are we to freeze or abolish this fact or state?” she asked.
Tsai responded to the recent calls to suspend the independence clause yesterday on Google Moderator, a service that helps crowdsource questions and determine which questions interest users the most.
The DPP has been using it as an open platform to engage people on public policy.
She said the reason cited by those who propose mothballing the independence clause has always been the worry that the DPP would not be able to deftly deal with issues concerning cross-strait relations.
“This is a myth,” Tsai said. “People have to ask the question of who really defines the so-called Taiwanese independence framed by the media. Are we not an independent nation? Isn’t consolidating our sovereignty and demanding more substantive participation in the international arena what most Taiwanese are calling for?”
Tsai said the Resolution on Taiwan’s Future (台灣前途決議文) has been the consensus within the party about Taiwan’s sovereignty, future and relationship with China, and it has also become a consensus among the Taiwanese public.
“The DPP, based on this consensus, is aiming for a cross-strait relationship that is more stable and consisting of quality interaction and mutual trust,” she added.
She said that the DPP would be more confident, positive and practical in its attitude and measures, “showing its stability and consistency.”
The party would continue insisting on the principle and position that cross-strait interactions, regardless of form, should not be allowed to damage Taiwan’s democracy, sovereignty or Taiwanese will to determine their own future, Tsai said.
Separately, Su wrote on Facebook yesterday that Taiwan is an independent nation and that its future is in the hands of its 23 million people.
It is the mainstream public opinion, a social consensus of the highest degree and the DPP’s longstanding principle, Su added.
He said that the party’s 2014 China Policy Review: Summary Report (對中政策檢討機要) released in January was the result of scores of conferences with thorough discussions involving more than 600 people that spanned several months. The conclusion has confirmed the fortitude of the DPP’s basic values and core stance.
“The DPP should have confidence in its stance and in Taiwan’s mainstream opinion, clarifying its attitude [whenever needed] to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding from the outside and confusion within the party,” Su wrote.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
RSS