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Annette Lu applauds Chen's words

Vice President Annette Lu cuts the ribbon at the opening ceremony of an audio systems exhibition at the Asiaworld Plaza Hotel in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday voiced her strong support for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent statement that "there is one country on either side of the Strait," saying that all Taiwanese should be proud of having a brave and honest head of state.

"President Chen just stated a fact, which is that the Republic of China is not a part of the People's Republic of China, and his words have exposed Beijing's lies," Lu said at a reception for overseas Taiwanese businessmen at the Presidential Office.

"I want to ask his critics, what part of the president's remarks is not a fact?" Lu stressed, adding that the public should applaud the president instead of criticizing him.

Lu said that Taiwan has been subjected to humiliation (from China) after expressing a lot of goodwill during the past two years. But she says Beijing stubbornly looked down upon Taiwan and tried its best to get Taiwan into a stranglehold in the diplomatic arena.

"We have to fight back at some stage," she said.

"President Chen has become the only one to directly tell Beijing that it is lying."

Vice President Annette Lu

The vice president yesterday loudly voiced her support for Chen while appearing at a number of public events, saying that Taiwan has been kept down for so long that its 23 millions citizens now need to find opportunities to express their true feelings.

She said that during the past five decades, Beijing authorities have continually propagated to the world that Taiwan is a part of China -- and some politicians have echoed this perception in the global diplomatic arena, while no one dared to expose the lie.

"President Chen has become the only one to directly tell Beijing that it is lying -- and to say that Taiwan is as much a country as China is. Therefore, we should feel proud because we have a brave national leader," Lu said.

Lu also mentioned the San Francisco Peace Treaty, saying that this international contract, which was signed in 1952, never authorized China to take over Taiwan from Japan.

Many pro-independence Tai-wanese advocate a policy of "Taiwan's sovereignty remains undecided" and the vice president had also asserted it several times after taking power in May 2000.

She once said that the San Francisco Peace Treaty was written ambiguously on purpose because the international community did not want to transfer Taiwan from one war-mongering country (Japan) to another (China).

Yesterday Lu said again that, since the San Francisco Peace Treaty didn't assign Taiwan to any nation, the fact is that the PRC, which was established in 1949, never ruled Taiwan for one day.

Lu then urged her fellow countrymen to have confidence in the government and the future of the country.
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