Professor Mineo Nakajima spoke of the importance of Taiwan's democratization yesterday at an international conference on Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" organized by Taiwan Advocates (群策會) at the Grand Hotel yesterday.
A former principal of Tokyo University of Foreign Language specializing in International Relations, and author of many books on China-Taiwan-Hong Kong relations, Nakajima said that Taiwan's next presidential election was important, if not crucial, for the Asia region.
"Taiwan's democratization, which began during former president Lee Teng-hui's(
Nakajima said that it was absolutely necessary that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) be re-elected in next year's election, as Chen is the only person who will carry out Taiwan's democratization agenda and protect Lee's accomplishments.
"After the presidential election, the next step for Taiwan will be a referendum on changing the nation's name." Nakajima said.
"The change ... is important as this will take away any justification China might have in using force against Taiwan. And the US cannot ignore China's use of force against Taiwan should Taiwan takes the word `China' out of its formal name," he said.
In his presentation yesterday, Nakajima spoke of the collapse of Hong Kong since its 1997 handover, and of the gradual diminishment of Hong Kong's freedom and democracy should serve as a lesson for Taiwan.
While Nakajima holds a pessimistic view of the future of Hong Kong, he said the people of Taiwan have a choice about their future.
"In choosing between obtaining recognition of Taiwan and maintaining the current situation, thereby continuing the ambiguity over identity, Taiwanese will need national cooperation, a lot of conviction and commitment to change the current status quo," he said.
Should Taiwan's opt for the latter course, 21st century Taiwanese will not be able to obtain adequate international recognition, he said.
Nakajima stressed the utmost importance of Taiwanese people recognizing their own identity.
"Without such self-awareness and recognition, Taiwan will be divided and eventually taken over by China," he said.
Nakajima said that it is unlikely that China will accept the government's direct cross strait transportation proposals because: "It is unlikely that the two sides will reach a mutual agreement with each side maintaining their political stance,"
He also said that he thought direct transportation links were anyway undesirable in that they would lead to greater penetration of Taiwanese society by Chinese influences.
As far as economic development is concerned, Nakajima said that he thought the current economic development projections by China were mostly wishful thinking on the part of Beijing.
"Once the make-believe crumbles, investments in China will all suffer" he said, calling for early preparation by all Taiwanese and Japanese investors for such an eventuality.
Nakajima said that Taiwan had to make a decision regarding its national identity.
"It is very unlikely that China will use force against Taiwan for fear of condemnation by the international community before the 2008 Beijing Olympic. Thus, should Taiwan make a choice, it had best be done before 2008," he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater