Civic groups and academics yesterday criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for disregarding the bid for UN membership under the name Taiwan and warned that Ma’s inaction on the diplomatic front would jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“While Taiwan is a de facto independent country, we need to work hard to make it a de jure independent country and applying for membership of the UN under the name of Taiwan is the only way to do this,” the nation’s former representative to Japan, Koh Se-kai (許世楷), told a symposium.
The symposium, titled “Taiwan, UN and UN affiliations,” was organized by the Taiwan New Century Foundation and endorsed by the Taiwan United Nations Alliance (TAIUNA).
Koh and other academics at the symposium said the “diplomatic truce,” a strategy Ma has trumpeted as his solution to reduce cross-strait tensions since he took office in 2008, is likely to have projected the false perception to the international community that Taiwan is part of China.
“However, while a truce should involve both sides laying down their weapons, China has never stopped squeezing Taiwan’s international space, nor has it dismantled any of the more than 1,600 missiles it has aimed at Taiwan,” said Lee Ming-jun (李明峻), secretary-general of the Taiwanese Society of International Law.
From the perspective of international law, Lee said, expressing a wish to declare independence and establish a new country is a natural right that must be respected and protected.
Taiwanese need to have their voices heard constantly within the international community, TAIUNA secretary-general William Lo (羅榮光) said, adding that “simply expressing our wish [for UN membership] lets the world know that Taiwanese want independence and Taiwan is not part of China.”
Voices were loud and clear during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, Lo said, as evidenced by the involvement of more than 400,000 people in the September 2007 “UN for Taiwan” rally held in Kaohsiung, while at the same time more than 4,000 Taiwanese Americans staged a simultaneous rally in New York City.
The Ma administration has done nothing for the bid, opting instead for a strategy of “meaningful participation in the UN and its affiliations,” Lo said.
The strategy was dangerous because it would overshadow people’s call for de jure independence, he said.
Ma’s policy has also failed in practice, Lo said, as “everyone knows that Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly and other international organizations requires Chinese approval.”
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all