The so-called “1992 consensus” upheld by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has become a tool that divides Taiwan, said Tung Li-wen (董立文), a Taiwan Thinktank consultant specializing in China matters.
Tung made the remarks yesterday at a press conference hosted by the Taiwan Brain Trust to discuss the performance of Ma, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in Saturday’s televised presidential debate.
Saying that the pro-unification and pro-Taiwan independence positions both enjoy support, Tung added that it is crucial to Taiwan’s democracy that every person can proclaim his or her own opinion and that Taiwan’s future is decided via a democratic mechanism.
“That President Ma Ying-jeou dared others to support [his] idea of ‘no unification, no independence,’ is an act tantamount to killing the ability of Taiwanese to choose their future. It not only harms Taiwan’s democracy, it also deepens the blue-green division and becomes a tool that Ma can use to tear Taiwan apart,” Tung said.
Tung was referring to the statement made by Ma during the debate in which he, after stating that his “three noes” position — no unification, no independence and no use of force — along with the “1992 consensus,” can solve cross-strait problems, asked whether Tsai dared to say “no independence.”
Adding that he was surprised the three candidates did not focus more on cross-strait issues, Tung said it might be because the three are still trying to figure out each other’s real intent and position on cross-strait relations.
According to a TVBS poll, Ma outperformed his rivals in the debate with 30 percent of viewers saying he won the debate, compared with 27 percent who said Tsai had the best performance and 20 percent who backed Soong.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-language China Times’ poll showed that 32 percent of respondents felt Ma did better than his opponents, compared with 30 percent who felt Tsai did the best and 14 percent who preferred Soong.
In related news, a Chinese netizen calling himself Guigumukong, said yesterday on his microblog that everyone in China should watch the Taiwanese presidential debates.
“This is a first step in civil rights. This is a way we can learn how national leadership should be elected,” Guigumukong said.
“Only when state leaders are elected via a democratic process can China become a democracy,” he said. “Leaders produced via other methods are only dictators under a fake skin of democracy.”
Another Chinese blogger said that a rare sense of pride for Chinese people arose after watching Taiwan’s presidential debate.
“For long, we Chinese people have not had that kind of proud feeling,” said the blogger, who calls himself Shengdai/Xindi.
Another Chinese blogger who called himself Danne_stone said that “the biggest thought after watching Taiwan’s 2012 presidential debate is that the people in Taiwan definitely do not want to reunite with China.”
Additional reporting by Staff writer
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan