Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday described China’s political maneuvers and increasing economic ties with Taiwan as a “silent annexation” and warned of the gradual erosion of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“The silent annexation is ongoing. The Democratic Progressive Party’s [DPP] loss of power might be tolerable, but the loss of sovereignty in our time would be an irreversible mistake that would jeopardize future generations,” Lu said in a speech during the founding ceremony of the Anti-One China Principle Union.
The group, co-founded by DPP Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) and former DPP lawmaker Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), was established to monitor President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) perceived pro-China policies.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Taiwan does not oppose that there is only one China in the world, Lu said, but “that does not mean Taiwan is part of China.”
The former vice president warned that China has been using different measures to absorb Taiwan since passing an “Anti-Secession” law in 2005.
Ma’s policies since taking office in 2008 appear to have dovetailed with Beijing’s measures and have accelerated Taiwan’s dependence on China, she said.
In response to recent debates about the DPP’s pro-independence stance and a perceived collaborative anti-Taiwan independence campaign between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), leveraged on the so-called “1992 consensus,” Lu reiterated the idea of a “1996 consensus.”
“We should never have a doubt about Taiwan’s independent status. Taiwan has been an independent and sovereign country since March 23, 1996, the day of its first direct presidential election,” Lu said.
The “1996 consensus,” which represents the collective will and decisionmaking of the nation’s 23 million people, is a better consensus than the “1992 consensus,” which is only an illusion fabricated by the KMT and the CCP, Lu said.
Chen also warned that Taiwan “has already entered China’s orbit” under the Ma administration.
As a reminder to his own party, which Chen said has “somehow lost faith in what it believed in,” the lawmaker said the DPP “should know who the enemy is and understand that an enemy will never help you to win power.”
On the desire of several DPP politicians to urgently facilitate closer engagement with Beijing, Chen cited former US president John F. Kennedy as saying: “Do not fear to negotiate, but do not negotiate out of fear.”
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS