The people of both Taiwan and China must work together to welcome the 21st century, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said yesterday in a speech to university students in Beijing, while emphasizing that Taiwanese independence is not representative of the people of Taiwan.
"However large the world is, is how large the opportunity for China is. Let us together seize this chance, with our hands interlocked and hearts connected, with our feet firmly on the ground, to welcome a 21st century that is in waiting for the Chinese people of both sides [of the Taiwan Strait]," Soong said, speaking to students at Tsinghua University yesterday.
During his stop at the elite Chinese university, which was part of his scheduled agenda for a historic, nine-day tour of China, Soong spoke about the relationship between Taiwan and China.
PHOTO: EPA
Throughout his speech, Soong said that the consolidation of Taiwanese consciousness in the years of the nation's self-rule should not be equated with the Taiwanese independence movement.
Those advocating Taiwanese independence do not represent the island, Soong said.
Whereas Taiwanese consciousness is the natural result of a long passage of history and recognizes the connection between the people of Taiwan and the land, Soong said, Taiwanese independence is a plan to completely cut off Taiwan from the mainland.
"It cannot be denied; Taiwanese consciousness has been manipulated by Taiwanese independence. However, this sort of political scheme has confused the real voices of the Taiwanese people," Soong said in the speech.
Furthermore, he said, while the PFP has a strong love for its Taiwanese homeland and a sense of Taiwanese consciousness, it also has a deep bond to all the Chinese people and is adamantly against Taiwanese independence.
"Our long-standing position is that Taiwanese independence is a dead-end and has never been a feasible option for the PFP," he said.
Despite Soong's emphasis on his party's love for Taiwan, however, he made no mention of the party's, and his, often-stated support for the Republic of China in the speech, choosing to merely focus on the nation's economic success, labeling it the "Taiwan experience," and on his connection to China.
The basic way to solve the problems between China and Taiwan, is not through military means but through the common wishes of the political talent on both sides for the good of the people, Soong said. The future of both countries depends on the deepening of mutual understanding, he added.
"Only by placing the good of the people as their first priority will both sides of the Taiwan Strait exert all efforts to find a resolution acceptable to both sides. In mathematical terms, we must find the greatest common denominator of both sides," Soong said.
"Both sides are my home. On one side are my ancestors, but on the other are our descendants. No one is willing to give up one side in order to win the acknowledgement of the other," Soong said.
Soong also indirectly criticized the current administration when responding to a student's question about President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) decision to decline China's offer to reduce customs duties on a number of Taiwanese agricultural products.
In answering the question, Soong said the reason the government has decided not to accept an offer that would clearly help the Taiwanese people, is because certain individuals have confused thinking and have not thought the issue through.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS