The 2001 Global Peace Assembly concluded yesterday with participants voicing their support for peace and Taiwan's determination to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing cross-strait impasse.
US Congressman Benjamin Gilman said the cross-strait question could be resolved if China merely recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The problem of instability here results from the lack of recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state," Gilman said. "Taiwan is a sovereign state and should be treated as such."
He also said Taiwanese investors setting foot in China should be "cautious" not to channel that investment into businesses that could support military-run enterprises.
"Even though over 300 missiles are aimed at Taiwan by the PRC, Taiwan is searching for a peaceful resolution," the forum's press release stated.
The forum also identified six principles of peace-making that participants saw as applicable to the solution to the cross-strait standoff, such as trust building, patience, feasible negotiation mechanisms, and the recognition that related problems can only be resolved through negotiations.
Gilman, the senior Republican on the House International Relations Committee, said at the press conference and the morning panel discussion that Taiwan should be admitted to the UN.
Raymond Burghardt, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, said the peace-making process across the Taiwan Strait will require time, and the government should recognize that it's not the only player in the process.
Burghardt said tourism and trade, as well as other economic exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, should be seen as part of the peace-making process.
It's his personal view, Burghardt said, that such economic exchanges should not be subject to any political conditions.
Meanwhile, in a brief breakfast address to visiting Nobel laureates for the peace forum, including former presidents Lech Walesa of Poland and F. W. de Klerk of South Africa, former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lee said, speaking in English, that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration was "exerting its best efforts'' to achieve a peaceful resolution in the Taiwan Strait.
"During the last two decades, the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has been striving to achieve a peaceful resolution of cross-straits issues,'' Lee said, adding that the current government has continued these efforts.
Lee mentioned the historic 1992 meeting between envoys from the two sides, adding that Beijing unilaterally halted cross-strait talks in 1995.
Lee's remarks contrasted sharply with those made recently by other KMT leaders, who have accused Chen of raising tensions with Beijing by dragging out a dispute about Taiwan's political status.
Chinese envoy Wang Daohan (汪道涵) planned to visit Taiwan in 1999, but Beijing canceled the trip after Lee clarified ties between Taipei and Beijing as "special state-to-state relations."
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