The New Party yesterday urged President Ma to abide by his promise of “no use of force” across the Taiwan Strait in order to present Taiwan as a peaceful nation.
The party, a small ally of the KMT, has defined itself as an elite party with a strong pro-unification stance since its establishment.
“We hope Taiwan would become a place of no war and an island of peace. President Ma Ying-jeou promised ‘no use of force’ between Taiwan and China, and he should act on his promise,” New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) said while addressing a ceremony marking the party’s formation at the Civil Service Development Institute in Taipei.
Ma proposed the “three noes” policy — no pursuit of unification, no Taiwanese independence and no use of force — during his visit to Japan last November as a moderate approach to relations with China.
Former United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) announced yesterday the establishment of a foundation in order to promote a “cross-strait peaceful coexistence law” (兩岸和平共處法).
Tsao said the foundation would be established next month. He will serve as the chairman and begin promoting the law around university campuses.
“The law would help promote cross-strait peace. Taiwan can choose to be independent or to unify with China. It’s unnecessary to start a war,” he said.
Last November, Tsao presented the proposal in an ad he placed in four Chinese-language newspapers, urging the two presidential candidates — Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — to cooperate and push for cross-strait “peaceful coexistence legislation” to “completely solve the cross-strait problem and end the political wrangling within the nation.”
Tsao said his law suggested that the Republic of China is sovereign, and whether or not the nation wants to unify with China should be determined by Taiwanese through a referendum.
Later yesterday, DPP legislators criticized the New Party’s proposal to build Taiwan into a “war-free zone” and an “island of peace,” saying it would amount to robbing Taiwan of its statehood.
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said she believed that “peace is built on the ground with full preparation, not under conditions that see a country surrender its arms.”
The person who proposed the “war-free zone” is a “fool” with wishful thinking, she said. Lin blasted the proposal as an attempt to seek Taiwan’s “progressive unification” with China, and argued that unification is “against the will of most people in Taiwan.”
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said that no country in the world would voluntarily disband its air and marine forces. Besides, she added, China is not “totally friendly” toward Taiwan, as evidenced by Beijing’s reluctance to dismantle its missiles targeting Taiwan.
Yok’s proposal means surrendering Taiwan’s dignity as a country — in effect “denationalizing” Taiwan, said DPP Legislator Chang Hwa-kuan (張花冠). Chang described the proposal as “naive,” while Chiu said it was “ridiculous.”
DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) also criticized the suggestion, saying that the question of peace in the Strait is not up to Taiwan to decide, and noted that China has never stopped trying to squeeze Taiwan out of the international community.
If the so-called “war-free zone” proposal was workable, Taiwan would have declared itself a “neutral state” a long time ago, she said, adding that Yok’s remarks were “senseless.”
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