Although Taiwan faces Beijing’s obstructionism when “going outward,” “the efforts we make every time we meet challenges will accumulate” for the world to see the nation’s determination, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Tsai made the remarks at a seminar in Taipei hosted by the Wu San Lien Foundation for Taiwan Historical Materials marking the 20th anniversary of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election.
“Twenty years have passed since the first direct presidential election. In the process of deepening our democracy, Taiwanese use their ballots to make peaceful and stable government transitions: A phenomenon that sent authoritarianism to the dustbin of history and keeps those in power on their toes,” she said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
However, Taiwan, despite its democratic achievements, is beset with aggravating structural problems, such as pension reform, long-term care service, industrial transformation and labor rights, Tsai said.
“Facing the challenges squarely has made the administration’s governance in the past few months a bit bumpy, but blowbacks are expected when you are opening pressure cookers one by one,” she said.
Tsai promised to lead the nation through the reforms, as they are “historical responsibilities” that need to be shouldered.
“Taiwanese held direct presidential elections 20 years ago amid a tempestuous storm [of Chinese missiles],” Tsai said. “Twenty years later, Taiwan is continuing on the course of democratization, on the basis of which a prosperous, safe and just society will be built.”
“Taiwan also has to go outward and that is why I visited our allies right after I took office,” Tsaid said. “Besides consolidating the friendship with our diplomatic allies, the visit by a democratically elected president also made the world see Taiwan and its 23 million people’s love for democracy, freedom and human rights.”
China has been using its influence to obstruct Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, as it did with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly, but this is the reality that Taiwan faces, Tsai said. “These kinds of challenges and difficulties are expected to continue, but Taiwan’s efforts will also endure.”
“In the ICAO incident, the world has seen Taiwan’s endeavors, with many nations, regardless of whether they have diplomatic relations with us, expressing their support for Taiwan’s participation. We will build substantial cooperative relationships with other nations based on sincere friendship, and when we take up the role of a key participant in global affairs, we cannot be, and will not be, ignored by the world,” she said.
Tsai also thanked the foundation for undertaking an oral history project for the Democratic Progressive Party’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Foundation chairman Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民) said that with a “bad neighbor” that represses Taiwan in every possible way, “we hope the public will have the wisdom to resist Chinese hegemony and the government could lead Taiwanese through transitional justice to a Taiwan that is a normalized nation with the right name and a [new] Constitution.”
Since the 1980s there were calls from the dangwai (黨外, those “outside the party”) for direct presidential elections, as it would demarcate — as it has demarcated — the boundaries of the nation and the boundaries of its people as nationals, said Cheng Ching-jen (鄭欽仁), a retired history professor from National Taiwan University.
The seminar was held yesterday, as Oct. 1 is also the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, foundation secretary-general Tai Pao-tsun (戴寶村) said. “We hope [China] can one day choose their leaders with votes, instead of clapping hands, and then the two nations can finally sit down and talk.”
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2