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.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS