Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"No one likes to live under the threat of guns, knives or warheads of missiles," Ma said in comments aired on Saturday by ETTV. "This should be included in the agenda if we hold talks in the future."
Ma, who is viewed as a shoo-in for the KMT nomination in the 2008 presidential election, made the comments to a group of Taiwanese and Chinese students at Cambridge University in England.
China has deployed hundreds of missiles along its southeastern coasts facing Taiwan. Ma said dismantling the missiles is contained in the peace framework proposed by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) during his trip to China last year.
At Cambridge, Ma said unification will become more likely if the two societies narrow their political, economic and social gaps.
"The opportunity is there ... but whether it can be achieved is up to the people in Taiwan to decide," he added.
New model
Ma is expected to put forth a "new model" for handling relations between Taiwan and China, hoping that the two will go through confrontation, conciliation and cooperation ("three Cs") to reach peaceful co-existence and joint prosperity (" two Ps").
Ma is scheduled to make public his so-called "2P3C" theory in a speech at the prestigious London School of Economics today.
He said yesterday that cross-strait issues are not limited to commonly seen disputes over sovereignty, but rather cover a wide range of issues including Taiwan's internal problems such as ethnic division, controversy over independence or unification, birth places (in different provinces of China) and economic issues, as well as international issues.
He said his "2P3C" proposal is aimed at solving all of these issues in a bid to form a new model for handling cross-strait relations.
Ma said his "new model" will be more than simply returning to the so-called 1992 consensus, a rough term about an understanding between Taipei and Beijing that they agreed to disagree on the meaning of "one China."
Ma said his party is "going beyond old modes of thinking" in pursuit of new visions for peace and prosperity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, the notion that there should be no talks with China if it does not remove its missiles aimed at Taiwan is the mainstream opinion in Taiwan concerning the development of cross-strait relations, a member of the KMT legislative caucus said.
KMT Deputy Party Whip Tsai Chin-lung (
Unification
If China intends to see ultimate unification across the Taiwan Strait, Tsai said, it should give careful thought to how to win the hearts and minds of the Taiwan people, instead of aiming missiles at Taiwan while at the same time making "goodwill" overtures toward the nation.
Tsai was responding to Ma's remarks made at Cambridge University in England on Saturday.
Tsai claimed that the idea of peaceful unification with China has been the mainstream opinion in Taiwan. If Beijing insists on continuing to deploy missiles targeting Taiwan, this will only serve to defy the common aspiration of Taiwanese, he said.
Showing genuine goodwill to the people of Taiwan to win their hearts is the only right way for Beijing to seek peaceful unification with Taiwan, Tsai stressed.
The KMT legislative caucus also said yesterday that the National Unification Council (NUC) and the National Unification Guidelines serve as a safety valve in the often tense relations between Taiwan and China, warning that doing away with these nominal institutions might trigger a war between the two.
As President Chen Shui-bian's (
Tsai claimed that scrapping the NUC and its guidelines "absolutely contradicts" Chen's own "five noes" pledge of not declaring Taiwan independence, not changing the nation's official title, not pushing for inclusion into the Constitution of the "state-to-state" description of cross-strait relations, not holding a referendum on independence versus unification and not abolishing the NUC. Chen made the "five noes" pledge in his inauguration addresses in 2000 and 2004.
"If the president insists on pushing ahead with his proposal to abolish the NUC, then his political credibility will again be open to doubt," Tsai said.
On the president's argument that he was proposing abrogating the NUC in deference to a Legislative Yuan resolution to do away with all illegal organizations under the Presidential Office, Tsai said if the issue flares up again at the legislature, it could be seen internationally as an attempt by the Chen administration to tilt toward independence.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by