Academics on Saturday voiced worries that if Taiwanese do not express their aspirations to protect the nation’s sovereignty through their ballots, the country could eventually be unified with China via democratic elections.
“There are many nations and peoples who strongly express their aspirations for independence, and when they do so, the international community cannot overlook or oppress their will,” retired National Taiwan University history professor Lee Yeng-chyh (李永熾) told a conference on the impacts of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, in which China ceded sovereignty over Taiwan to Japan.
“But if the public does not have such aspirations, I’d doubt the effectiveness of a referendum on independence,” Lee said.
He said that while Taiwanese often complain about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China-leaning policies, “aren’t we all guilty of electing a president who denies the nation’s sovereignty and independence, and seeks to place Taiwan back into China?”
“This is an era of democracy, what else can we say when we negated ourselves by electing Ma president?” Lee added.
Former representative to Japan Lo Fu-chuan (羅福全) said Taiwanese are at the core of the question of whether Taiwan should become an independent country.
While pro-independence figures debate if Taiwanese independence should be achieved through a revolution outside of the system, or via changes within it, academics and activists at the conference said that, given the prevailing social conditions, making changes within the system may be the better option right now.
“In the past, exiled Taiwanese independence activists living overseas advocated a revolution, however, it’s because they didn’t have a choice back then, they couldn’t accomplish what they wanted through voting,” said Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元), head of the Graduate Institute of Taiwan History at National Chengchi University said. “But now it’s different, we have been given a choice and therefore the question now is what do we want as our choice?”
Citing India’s first prime minister after its independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, Hsueh said that Nehru was fighting for Indian independence while participating in colonial politics when India was under British rule.
He gave Brazil as another example, saying it was a Portuguese colony, but made itself a sovereign state through internal changes, saying that “we [Taiwanese] should learn from this.”
Another former representative to Japan, Koh Se-kai (許世楷), who spent many years in exile for advocating independence, agreed.
“We need to get someone from the outside elected president of the Republic of China, and have them make changes from within,” Koh said. “If we don’t, it’s going to be hard, almost impossible.”
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS