Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said that she will push for a national referendum to declare Taiwan a peaceful and neutral nation.
Lu said she chose yesterday to unveil her proposal because Aug. 14 was the 69th anniversary of the public announcement of Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces, which ended World War II.
The proposed referendum would allow Taiwanese to proclaim to the world that their country is peaceful and neutral, Lu said at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, which was also attended by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and other prominent party members.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
If Taiwan is declared a permanently neutral country, the tensions across the Taiwan Strait will disappear and the nation’s peaceful engagement with China will serve as a buffer for the US and Japan in their dealings with Beijing, she said.
With such a move, Taiwan would go from being a regional flash point to a trade and transportation hub, building its humanitarian efforts and high-tech sector to become the Switzerland of the Orient, she said.
She said she is now seeking support for the proposed referendum and hopes it can be held simultaneously with the 2016 presidential election.
Joined by Yu, former minister of national defense Tsai Ming-hsien (蔡明憲) and former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Parris Chang (張旭成), Lu read a proclamation on peace and neutrality.
The group then shouted: “Formosa, Oriental Switzerland; Peace and neutrality to protect Taiwan.”
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