Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday countered President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) interpretation of his “constitutions with different interpretations” (憲法各表) proposal, saying the initiative was intended to highlight that there were two constitutions on either side of the Taiwan Strait, not one.
Ma was quoted in an interview with Chinese-language news magazine Yazhou Zoukan published on Thursday as saying that Hsieh’s initiative “is not different than the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] initiative of ‘one China with different interpretations’ (一中各表).”
“Hsieh advocated ‘constitutional one China’ (憲法一中) in the past and is now advocating ‘constitutions with different interpretations.’ Putting them together, you get ‘one China with different interpretations.’ It’s the same as our initiative,” Ma said.
In response, Hsieh said in Yilan County that his initiative “highlights the fact that there are two effective and working constitutions in Taiwan and China at present, while there would be only one legal constitution in the KMT’s initiative.”
“Our Constitution has gone through amendments and the democratic reform in Taiwan that would reaffirm the existence of the Republic of China [ROC]. It is different from the ‘one China’ initiative,” Hsieh added.
Beijing has never accepted the KMT’s “one China with different interpretations” initiative and has always spoken against it publicly, Hsieh said.
The former premier said it would be better for Taiwan if the DPP and the KMT had similar cross-strait policies and positions so the parties would be able to compete on their domestic policies and governance and the nation would have normal party politics.
However, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) agreed with Ma’s assessment, saying yesterday in New Taipei City (新北市), where she was campaigning for an anti-nuclear power referendum, that “Ma has hit the bullseye and everyone knows it.”
Hsieh is free to say what he wants, but if even Ma could see through Hsieh’s proposal, the DPP should try to clarify its China policy and position as soon as possible, Lu said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS