Former political exile Cheng Tzu-tsai (鄭自才) yesterday launched the Sovereign State for Formosa and Pescadores Party in Taipei.
The party’s two main goals are to attain self-determination for Taiwanese and achieve statehood as an independent nation, because the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty was not clearly resolved after World War II, based on the Treaty of San Francisco, which came into effect in 1952, Cheng told a news conference.
Japan merely renounced its rights to Taiwan and Penghu (the Pescadores), and the Allied powers only granted temporary authority to Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) Republic of China (ROC) as a “provisional custodian” at that time, he said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
“The Treaty of San Francisco left Taiwan and the Penghu islands with an undetermined political status, with their residents being ‘stateless’ all this time,” he said.
“However, the ROC regime has concealed this truth by using its education system and the government tools” at its disposal, he added.
“The ROC is an exile regime, that fled from China after the civil war to occupy Taiwan. The Chinese government as People’s Republic of China also has no reason or legal basis to claim Taiwan,” Cheng said.
Under the treaty’s provisions, Taiwan and Penghu are the former colonies of Japan, and their people have the right to self-determination and to achieve statehood as an independent nation through a referendum, he added.
“The textbook description of Taiwan’s retrocession, or returning to the ROC, rule is a total lie. We want people to know that what they learned about post-World War II Taiwanese history and Taiwan’s status were fabrications and misrepresentations by the ROC government,” he said.
The ROC regime has no legal authority over Taiwan and Penghu, Cheng said.
Party executive Liu Che-chia (劉哲嘉) said they would officially establish the party’s leadership at a members’ congress on June 30, adding that Cheng would serve as interim chairman.
“We will seek people with good standing to run in some districts for next year’s legislative elections,” Liu said, adding that they talked with the Democratic Progressive Party last week.
Cheng, 82, is a senior figure in the Taiwanese independence movement.
He and Peter Huang (黃文雄) plotted and carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt against then-vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in New York on April 24, 1970.
Both were students in US universities at the time and were involved with the US chapter of World United Formosans for Independence.
Wanted by the US government, Cheng skipped his bail and fled to Sweden and later moved to Canada, before returning home in 1991.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia