Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu made the remarks during a tea party with a group of reporters covering the Presidential Office.
If the Chen is re-elected, Lu predicted, the Beijing authorities will come to understand that they have to negotiate with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
"This will be the first step in maintaining cross-strait stability," she said.
Should that be the case, Lu went on, the DPP and its pan-green allies will stand a good chance of winning a majority of seats in the year-end legislative elections.
Claiming that many of the administration's reform programs have been obstructed by the opposition-controlled legislature over the past four years, Lu said gaining a legislative majority will greatly facilitate the implementation of Chen's major policy initiatives.
Lu described the referendum as a historic event in Taiwan's democratic development.
"The referendum is a crucial first step to protect Taiwan's status quo," Lu said, adding that once the referendum results come out, China will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the Taiwanese people's appeal for its withdrawal of the hundreds of missiles pointed at the nation.
Noting that Chen's referendum initiative has caught world attention and has thus helped make the Taiwan Strait issue an international concern, Lu said Taiwan can use the referendum to demonstrate to the world its desire for peace and commitment to preserving the status quo.
Lu said that the two referendum questions epitomize a two-pronged approach to push Beijing to negotiate with Taiwan for crafting a mechanism for peaceful interaction.
The two questions are:
"The people of the Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should mainland China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and openly renounce the use of force against us, do you agree that the government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities?"
"Do you agree that our government should engage in negotiation with China on the establishment of a peace and a stability framework for cross-strait interaction in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples of both sides."
Lu said that even though the answers to the two questions may be self-evident, the referendum has to be held to manifest the people's sovereignty.
"I think there should be feasible ways to avoid a cross-strait war other than deploying anti-missile systems," she said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai