Taiwan should become a permanently neutral nation as an alternative to either unification with China or independence, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday in a speech said that Taiwan “must and will be” united with China based on the so-called “1992 consensus” and in accordance with the “one China” principle, and proposed a Taiwanese version of the “one country, two systems” model.
Lu, who left the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last year, said that there is no longer a “1992 consensus,” but only “one China, two systems (一中兩制).”
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Xi said he would not rule out the use of force, so the option of peaceful unification is also off the table, Lu said, adding that by the same token, maintaining the “status quo” is likely impossible and a new approach is needed.
Taiwan could only take three paths, she said.
First, it could accept China’s “one China, two systems,” in which China is the People’s Republic of China (PRC), she said.
Second, the nation could push for formal independence, whether as the Republic of China or as Taiwan, she said.
The third path is to become a permanently neutral nation, Lu said.
She said she would officially launch a referendum proposal on Feb. 27 to make Taiwan permanently neutral and would travel to the US in March to promote the idea.
Separately, on Saturday, Hong Kong democracy advocate Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) said that Hong Kongers’ rights have diminished since the adaption of “one country, two systems.”
Toward the end of 1984, China and the UK signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong, with annexes promising that Hong Kong would remain autonomous for 50 years, he said.
In 1990, the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the territory’s miniconstitution, he said.
However, the promises made to Hong Kongers in both documents have never been fulfilled, he said, adding that the situation has deteriorated instead.
To the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), “one country, two systems” means implementing two systems within one country, but the CCP’s sovereignty over Hong Kong is absolute and Hong Kong was never given the “high degree of autonomy” mandated by the Basic Law, he said.
In 2007, the NPC agreed that the chief executive of Hong Kong would be elected by universal suffrage in 2017, but in 2014, it rejected universal suffrage, he said.
The articles in the Basic Law that protect the public’s rights are constantly being amended, he added.
The right to interpret the Basic Law belongs to the NPC Standing Committee and its interpretation of the law can overturn the interpretation of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, he said.
Hong Kong’s rule of law has become the rule of man, he said, urging Taiwan not to accept a “one country, two systems” arrangement.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS