President Chen Shui-bian (
"The lesson we have learned over the past seven years is that China's fundamental position on the issue has not changed," Chen said.
"It does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state and it considers Taiwan as part of its territory, a local government, a special administrative region and a second Hong Kong," he said.
Chen was speaking during a meeting with a US delegation of experts on China led by David Lampton at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
Lampton is director of Chinese studies at the Nixon Center as well as a professor of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
Over the decades, China has made an all-out effort to denigrate, marginalize and localize Taiwan, Chen said.
It is crucial the administration insist that Taiwan is a sovereign country and has the courage to rebut China's claim of sovereignty over the nation, he said.
Chen said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration firmly rejects the idea of "one China" and does not recognize the existence of a "1992 consensus" between Taiwan and China.
"When it comes to sovereignty, China will never give in unless Taiwan yields," he said. "But as president of Taiwan, how can I face its 23 million people and our ancestors if I abandon Taiwan's sovereignty?"
He said that China's oppression of Taiwan dated back to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
"No matter who is in power -- the pan-blue camp or the pan-green camp, the KMT or the DPP -- China's suppression has always been there," he said. "Almost everybody knows why Taiwan left the UN and why diplomatic ties with the United States were severed. The diplomatic setbacks did not happen during my presidency but during that of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國)."
KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
"Although China is a threat to us in diplomatic and security terms, it offers great economic opportunities. Cross-strait affairs should be dealt with according to the issue at hand," Ma said after meeting with volunteers at his campaign office.
On Chen's call for presidential candidates to regard China with suspicion, Ma lashed out at the government for refusing to have any exchanges with Beijing while promising to resolve cross-strait problems.
"If the KMT has the chance to take back power, we will never repeat the errors that the government has committed, such as creating unnecessary cross-strait tension," Ma said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
RSS