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TSU shuns flag-raising event

As the leaders of the nation's major political parties gathered yesterday for the flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office, members of the pro-independent Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were conspicuous in their absence.

The TSU instead held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan, reiterating its wish to found a new nation called the Republic of Taiwan in 2008.

"We are determined to stay away from the ceremony in front of the Presidential Office. The ceremony was held by the Republic of China [ROC] government, which represents a nonexistent country," said TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文).

The TSU was the only absentee among the four major political parties at yesterday's ceremony outside the Presidential Office.

Thousands of the pan-blue Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party (PFP) and New Party supporters attended the flag-raising ritual in the company of their party chairmen. This was the first time since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came into power in 2000 that opposition leaders attended the ceremony.

The pan-blue leaders decided to join in the ceremony this year to demonstrate their patriotism, despite rejecting the DPP government's invitation to attend the ceremony in previous years.

Huang said that the ROC, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, China and Mongolia, became nonexistent after Resolution No. 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1971 resolving that the People's Republic of China replaced the ROC in international politics.

"We decided to have our own celebration of the first day of 2004 by exposing the lie of the ROC's existence. The TSU calls for a concerted effort by Taiwanese people to establish a new nation called the Republic of Taiwan," Huang said.

The TSU also called for pan-blue supporters to carry the war into China to recover land that was taken by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.

The pan-blue supporters should side with the TSU to establish the Republic of Taiwan once they realise they cannot recover the lost land, the TSU said, adding that eliminating the Communist regime and recapturing China were the only two ways to revive the ROC.

The press conference was attended by most TSU heavyweights, except its legislative leader, Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙).

A magazine report on Wednesday claimed that Liao had sexually assaulted a middle-aged woman in September.

Liao denied the accusation, vowing that he would sue for defamation.

Huang said yesterday that the party headquarters would wait for the ruling of a judicial investigation before deciding on disciplinary measures, if any, against Liao.
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