Taiwan should not accept the "one China" principle otherwise the nation will fall prey to Beijing, warned Vice President Annette Lu(呂秀蓮) yesterday at the opening of the 2001 Global Peace Assembly.
"If we accept the `one China' principle or even the 1992 consensus, we'll fall into Beijing's trap. Then sooner or later we would have to pay tax to Beijing and allow Beijing to incite us," Lu told assembly participants.
The two-day peace forum began yesterday at the Grand Hotel with five Nobel Peace Prize laure-ates in attendance as well as about 60 dignitaries from Taiwan and overseas.
Lu also said Taiwan opposed the so-called "one country, four regions" formula, as the status of Taiwan was different from that of Macao and Hong Kong.
Beijing is currently studying the formula -- based on the formation of a country consisting of four parts: the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, with each part being ruled under their respective legal systems -- in the hope of cornering Taiwan after the nation's entry into the WTO, said Ting Yu-chou (
Lu described relations between Taipei and Beijing as that of "relatives" and "neighbors" although Beijing "has been rather dissatisfied [with this situation] and intends to have us come into its fold."
"But how can a giant lion get along peacefully with a small kitty cat?" Lu said.
Meanwhile, in a written statement to the peace assembly, President Chen Shui-bian (
"We hope that Beijing will respond to our goodwill and resume cross-strait dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible, in order to forge a cooperative relationship of mutual trust and reciprocity between the two sides and thereby set a solid foundation for everlasting cross-strait peace," said Chen in the statement.
Lu reiterated the call for peace last night at a party for the forum's participants held at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, when she read the forum's letters to Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
"In particular, we call for the PRC to immediately dismantle hundreds of missiles along the southeast China coast and renounce the use of force against Taiwan as the very first step to sponsor the 2008 Olympics," Lu said, reading from the letter to Annan.
In the letter to Jiang, Lu con-gratulated him on China's success in winning the 2008 Olympics, but told him to demonstrate the "peaceful spirit of the Olympics by ridding the Taiwan Strait of military tension."
Meanwhile, Lu received some support from one visitor for her views on investment in China -- views for which she was recently criticized by Chen.
Benjamin Gilman, former chair-man of the US House of Representatives' International Committee, said yesterday that Taiwan should pay attention to Chinese investment, which is likely to be transferred to fund the military-run enterprises.
He said that China should be criticized for its infringement of human rights domestically and intimidation of other foreign countries.
Gilmand made the comment when he met with Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
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