Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) recent rhetoric on cross-strait relations.
Lee said it was evident that the KMT was leaning toward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the KMT had never recognized Taiwan even though it has been settled here for almost six decades.
"Ma's recent comments are simply nonsense. I wonder how he earned his doctor of juridical science," Lee said in a speech delivered at a seminar hosted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
The seminar was held to discuss ideas for a new version of the Constitution and revision of the Referendum Law (
"Recently, [Ma] not only fawned over Chinese President Hu Jintao [胡錦濤] but also welcomed Chinese to enter the KMT. It seems that Ma is in favor of collaboration between the KMT and the CCP," Lee said.
In his speech, Lee said Ma's remarks showed that he thinks only about China, not Taiwan, and that the KMT has been treating Taiwan as "a place far from home," even though it has been here for nearly 60 years.
As the new legislative session starts today, Lee said he harbored great hope for the TSU as a small but influential party, and asked members to work on legislation that can ensure Taiwan's genuine "legal status."
"Finding ways to make the international community recognize Taiwan's legal status and accept the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign nation will be a key job the TSU should undertake this year," Lee said. "Whether Taiwan can enter the United Nations will not affect Taiwan's legal status."
"The TSU will propose a new version of a new Constitution in August," Lee added.
Before giving his speech, Lee and the TSU's hopeful for the Taipei mayoral race, political talk show host Clara Chou (
When asked his opinion of Chou as the two walked out of the meeting room, Lee said, "I strongly recommend Chou and encourage her to go for it."
At the seminar, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
Wu said the latest development in the cross-strait situation has been the drive by Ma to "oppose independence and promote unification" with China.
Wu said the drive began in December when Ma told Newsweek magazine that the KMT's goal is to see "eventual unification" with China. Since then, the KMT chairman had spoken to more foreign media to propagate the KMT's idea of advocating unification, he said.
Ma recently returned from a trip to Europe, during which he made several comments on cross-strait relations.
On Feb. 10, Ma told the BBC that "when the time is ripe, the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should decide whether or not to go for unification." On Feb. 12, he said that if the KMT comes into power again, it won't rule out discussing unification with China. On Feb. 14, he talked about creating an environment conducive to unification and a mutual agreement on the "one China" principle during an address at the London School of Economics.
Wu said the government will continue to strive to increase the defense budget to reduce the tilt in the cross-strait military balance toward China and to take a more pro-active stance to control the cross-strait economic exchanges.
Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS