President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she would never give up Taiwan’s sovereignty, despite China’s intimidation tactics.
Tsai, who is seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, made the remarks in a speech at a campaign event for DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) in Taichung.
“China has promised peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan Strait, by suggesting we go along with its ‘one country, two systems’ proposal, but this proposal is aimed at ... exterminating the Republic of China,” she said.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
“Some people urged us to go along with the ‘one country, two systems’ proposal, which they said would ensure peaceful coexistence across the Strait... They urged us to relinquish our nation’s sovereignty, saying our economy would improve, but our sovereignty is not negotiable,” she said.
“It is China that is undermining the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s government under my leadership has not provoked or made any imprudent moves by upholding peace in the region,” she said.
Over the past few years, China has continued to use military and propaganda tactics to intimidate Taiwan, “but I did not back down,” Tsai said.
“We must continue to uphold our stance with determination,” she said.
There is no room for ambiguity, and people must not think about backing down on national sovereignty, “so Taiwanese must stick together ... to defend our nation against China’s stepped up intimidation and military tactics,” she said.
“Over the past three years, I have implemented many reforms, but we still have a lot of work to do, and I will need another four years to further improve our economy and make more progress,” she said.
Tsai also campaigned in Yunlin County and New Taipei City yesterday.
Meanwhile, her running mate, former premier William Lai (賴清德), and Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) toured major roads in Taipei and New Taipei City on campaign trucks.
They began in the morning near the Taipei Zoo entrance and made their way through electoral districts, before attending campaign rallies in the evening in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) and in Taoyuan.
“If we can win these legislative seats in Taipei and New Taipei City, then it will be a victory for Taiwan, and the DPP will have a majority in the legislature,” Lai said. “By doing so, we can safeguard Taiwan together, and defend our sovereignty and our democratic society.”
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS