If a small of group of people could force the former dictatorial regime to dissolve the Taiwan Garrison Command and lift martial law, the 23 million people now living in Taiwan should be able to stop President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from selling out Taiwan, independence supporters said yesterday at a forum in Taipei.
Speaking at the forum, which looked at the effects of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, former Examination Yuan president Yao Wen-chia (姚嘉文) urged Taiwanese to stand united to prevent the Ma administration from handing over Taiwan’s sovereignty to Beijing.
“We must be confident that we can stop Ma from turning Taiwan over to Communist China. Back then, there were only a few of us, but we still managed to force the government to dissolve the Taiwan Garrison Command and lift martial law,” he said.
Yao, also a student of Taiwanese history, said the treaty, in which China ceded control of Taiwan to Japan in April 1895, officially marked the beginning of Taiwan’s complete and perpetual severance from China.
Although Japan gave up its jurisdiction over Taiwan in the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1952, Tokyo has never recognized Taiwan as part of China, so Taiwan is clearly not a Chinese province, he said.
Former vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), publisher of the new pro-independence newspaper Formosa Post, said history has shown that Taiwan goes through a major transformation every 30 years and urged all Taiwanese to take the country’s fate in their own hands.
“Throughout history, the Taiwanese people have never been an active participant in their own destiny. We must change that. At the moment, the world is going through a major change, and Taiwan will undoubtedly be affected,” she said.
Lu said that since the Ma government entered office in May last year, the relationship between Taiwan and China has become closer than ever.
However, Lu said, the growing intimacy between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party would put Taiwan’s future in further jeopardy.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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