President Chen Shui-bian (
"To be an international power, as it is widely expected to be, China must understand its responsibilities for the new role on the world stage. But even if China understands its new responsibilities it is to face, the question is whether it has the ability to carry out those responsibilities," Chen said.
"A world power is by no means a country which actively builds up its armed forced or compels smaller countries into accepting its demands through military means. As a world power, China must understand that establishing its status in the world does not come by squeezing Taiwan's international space and creating tension in the Taiwan Strait," he said.
"In its engagement with China, the US must allow China to understand its responsibilities as a world power. At the same time, Taiwan should join hands with the US to help China become a responsible and capable world power," he said.
"What's most worrying to us at the moment is that we are still at constant threat from a `rogue state' whose behavior often deviates from international norms."
Chen made the remarks at a speech at the opening ceremony of a roundtable meeting in Taipei between members of the US-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Society (CSIS) and local government officials and scholars.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-miao (
At the same time, Tien called on China to make a goodwill response to President Chen's "conciliatory gestures" for the sake of peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait.
"As President Chen has said, both sides of the Strait are creative and wise enough to find ways to resolve the differences between them. Taipei and Beijing can first find a pattern of interaction under the frameworks of the WTO and APEC," Tien said.
"The mode of interaction can be expanded to other international settings. A pattern of constructive engagement can be thus established between the two," he said.
"We hope peace and prosperity will replace hostility and confrontation in the Taiwan Strait. Although it sounds like a dream, we must be patient and optimistic."
Ex-US Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, now president and CEO of CSIS, said: "Americans feel that it is not going to be possible to resolve the differences between the two sides if there is a climate of intimidation that hangs over the discussions," Hamre said.
"Americans believe in fair play. If there is unprovoked intimidation [using military force against Taiwan], the US will just be what we were during the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis. No one here intends to provoke China," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique