President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen's remarks came in response to statements made by Soong's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
In an interview with the FTV news network last night, Chen reiterated that the "1992 consensus" does not exist, and asked rhetorically "how can you ask me to accept something that does not exist?"
Chen said that to China, the "1992 consensus" is tantamount to the "one China" principle, and that accepting the "one China" principle would mean that Taiwan would be turned into another Hong Kong.
"Not only can I not accept [the `one China' principle], but the 23 million people in Taiwan will not accept it either," Chen said.
Chen lashed out at Soong for vowing to oppose independence, despite agreeing to a 10-point consensus on Feb. 24 in which he stated that any changes to the status quo between Taiwan and China had to be determined by Taiwan's 23 million people -- and that no option would be ruled out.
During the interview, which lasted about two hours, the president took the opportunity to speak about his respect for former president Lee Teng-hui (
The remarks were apparently intended to mend fences between him and Lee, after Chen bitterly lashed out at Lee earlier in the week. Chen's criticism about Lee had subsequently drawn much fire from pan-green supporters.
"There is no problem between me and former president Lee ... the only difference is that this time we [the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU)] stand on opposing sides in terms of our stance over amending the Constitution," Chen said, referring to the DPP's position about the Legislative Yuan's constitutional amendments package in the National Assembly elections tomorrow.
"Former president Lee is the person I respect the most ... I believe our relationship has not changed and will not change," Chen said, adding that he will seek chance in the immediate future to visit Lee and seek the former president's advice on national affairs.
Acknowledging that many in the public have been lukewarm about Saturday's elections, Chen took also the advantage of the interview last night urging the public to vote in Saturday's elections.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS