Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) delivered a speech to hundreds of Japanese lawmakers at the Diet building in Tokyo yesterday, saying Taiwan is in immediate need of a second democratic reform to smooth its passage into a full-fledged democracy.
Titled the “Paradigm Shift of Taiwan,” the speech made Lee the first Taiwanese politician to address the Diet and marked Lee’s seventh visit to Japan since he left office.
Lee said that Taiwan underwent the first democratic reform during his time in office, and the nation has since become an embodiment of the Asian transition to democracy.
Photo: AFP
Lee said that Taiwan was under foreign rule for hundreds of years until the first direct presidential election in 1996.
Taiwanese disagree with the “one China” policy and the claim that “Taiwan is a part of China” as China has repeatedly stressed, he said.
To maintain the long-term stability of Taiwan, “the ambiguous relationship between Taiwan and China that has spanned more than half a century must be clarified,” Lee said.
He said Taiwan experienced a paradigm shift from the “ethnic conflict under the rule of a dominant minority” to the “coexistence of multiple ethnic groups” between the 1980s and the 1990s, when the nation saw a long-lasting economic boom and fair distribution of wealth, which Lee described as the first democratic reform in Taiwan.
However, that reform has reached its limit, and the call for a second wave of reforms — including constitutional reform — is increasingly urgent, especially among young people, Lee said.
Although direct presidential election are codified in the Constitution, there is no provision in the Constitution to limit presidential power, and it depends solely on the presidents themselves to exercise self-restraint and not to abuse their power, he said.
“I am 92 years old, and there might be only five more years for me at most to do something for Taiwan,” Lee said, adding that he would devote the rest of his life to the nation.
Saying that both Taiwan and Japan define democracy and liberty as their highest values, he said that he would like to see the two nations join hands to make a contribution to the world, as well as Japan’s sustained support for Taiwan.
Responding to a question raised by a Diet member in a closed-door question-and-answer session on “what Japan is lacking,” Lee said: “The spirit of Bushido [“the way of the samurai”] is universally true, and Japan could lead the world if it lives up to that standard, especially honesty and earnestness as commanded in Bushido.”
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS