Presidential Office adviser and long-time independence advocate Su Beng (史明) late on Thursday evening expressed on Facebook his support for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to seek re-election next year.
The move came after Presidential Office adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), former Presidential Office adviser Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and the Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) in an open letter on Thursday urged Tsai not to seek re-election.
Su, 101, urged people to support Tsai in the presidential election next year, as “otherwise, it would not only be Tsai’s personal failure, but also the failure of Su Beng and the pro-independence movement.”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The “one country, two systems” scheme Beijing tried to force upon the nation on Wednesday was a “colonial” policy, Su said.
“The Taiwanese independence movement is 99.9 percent complete. The last fight is in the remaining 0.1 percent,” said Su, also known as the “pro-independence grandpa.”
“Taiwan is where we were born and where we live. [Only] Taiwanese are the masters of Taiwan,” he said.
In the “last fight,” Taiwan must abide by its principles: promote nationalism and defeat colonialism; follow policies to move Taiwanese independence from an “ideal” to a “reality”; and engage in spiritual pursuits to become better people, which has to do with liberation, he said.
The three principles are themselves forms of spiritual pursuits Taiwanese should engage in, he added.
The post drew a response from Tsai, who yesterday morning replied: “Thank you so much, grandpa. Please take care.”
Su is the author of Taiwan’s 400-Year History (台灣人四百年史).
Separately yesterday, Overseas Taiwanese for Democracy, a group of Taiwanese studying or working overseas, also issued a statement in support of Tsai.
Taiwan is at a crossroads never before seen in history and many are at a loss as to the way forward, the statement said.
“What Taiwan needs now is strength from the unity of all its people coming together to make their own path,” the statement said. “Under the leadership of a president who is resolute, composed, flexible and yet tough, [Taiwan will] gradually bring reform to internal affairs, broaden diplomatic space and strive toward the future.”
Tough at times and moderate when needed, Tsai has exercised flexibility in her governance, it said.
“A good leader needs these qualities to help Taiwan sail through the storm and the tumultuous times it is having both domestically and internationally,” it said. “We openly support President Tsai and her administration, as well as the efforts they have made to achieve reform goals, including marriage equality, labor rights, pension reforms and transitional justice.”
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS