Academics are calling on the government to pass amendments that would restrict an anticipated increase in the number of parties interested in seeking political dialogues with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), which are currently permitted under legislation on cross-strait relations.
Article 5-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) bars unauthorized institutions from negotiating or signing an agreement with Beijing, but not from engaging in “political dialogues,” Taiwan Society of International Law deputy secretary-general Lin Ting-hui (林廷輝) said yesterday.
Xi is trying to exploit a legal loophole in the act by presenting the possibility of cross-strait dialogues before engaging in talks with parties, organizations and individuals from Taiwan that are willing to accept his version of the so-called “1992 consensus,” he said.
Photo: CNA
In a speech delivered in Beijing on Wednesday last week, Xi defined the “1992 consensus” as “both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait belonging to one China and being willing to work together to seek national unification” and announced his plan to explore a Taiwanese version of the “one country, two systems” model.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has maintained that the “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
To push toward realizing Xi’s goal, Lin said that Chinese government agencies charged with handling cross-strait matters are expected to engage in frequent talks with Taiwanese on the “one country, two systems” model.
“To avoid legal liability, they are likely to use terms like ‘action guidelines’ or ‘action plans’” instead of agreements, Lin said, adding that pro-unification groups could also seize the opportunity to earn Chinese subsidies by attending related forums and seminars.
Lin urged the government to enact a piece of legislation similar to the US’ Logan Act, which criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the US.
To sidestep Taiwanese law, the KMT published a document titled A Shared Vision for Peaceful Development of Cross-Strait Relations in the form of a press communique, following the landmark 2005 meeting between then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), said a source with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lien technically breached Article 5-1, but the administration of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) interpreted the article as saying that the law could only be broken when a treaty was signed, the source said.
While no agreement was signed at the ensuing KMT-CCP forum, many deals benefiting Beijing were announced at the annual meeting before it was taken over by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Straits Exchange Foundation during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, National Taiwan University professor of political science Chen Shih-min (陳世民) said.
Despite being renamed the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, the meeting still carries strong political connotations, Chen Shih-min said.
Another source who requested anonymity said that although the forum is conducted under the guise of economic and cultural exchanges, it would be difficult for it to avoid political dialogues.
As a China travel ban on Ma and former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is to be lifted on May 20, there have also been concerns that the two could be used by Beijing to realize Xi’s plan for negotiations on unification.
At a time when the international community is quick to put in place measures to combat national security threats posed by China, legal loopholes could make other countries reluctant to be friends with Taiwan, Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology professor of business administration Yen Chien-fa (顏建發) said.
Yen called on the government to quickly act on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) plan to set up a three-part security network for cross-strait exchanges.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
RSS