President Chen Shui-bian (
"There's no such problem as `one China with each side's individual interpretations' (
Chen made the remarks yesterday morning while attending a members' conference of the Tainan County and City Association in Taishan, Taipei County. Chen is a native of Tainan County.
Chen said that the Republic of China (ROC) used to rule China when it was founded in 1911. Then it became the ROC on Taiwan when the Nationalists lost the civil war and relocated to Taiwan in 1949.
Three countries
"Now the Republic of China is Taiwan. Therefore, there's three countries on each side of the Taiwan Strait and they're the ROC, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia," he said.
The former KMT administration used to claim sovereignty over China, Tibet and Mongolia, a stance that caused tension between Taiwan and the three countries.
Many of the problems between Taiwan and Tibet were resolved in January this year when a new Taiwan-Tibet Exchange Foundation was established to take over the Cabinet-level Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.
Ties between Taipei and Ulan Bator improved dramatically early last year after the Cabinet revised the laws governing Taiwan-China relations and removed claims that Mongolia was part of Chinese territory "to comply with international realities."
The two countries followed up on this diplomatic exchange by opening representative offices in each other's capitals late last year.
Moving away from the KMT's long-time policy of unification with China, Lien surprisingly announced on Saturday during a campaign rally in Taipei that "on each side [of the strait], there's a country."
Lien, however, asked whether Chen's "one country on each side" theory was actually advocating "three countries on either side." The "three countries" were the PRC , the ROC and the virtual "Republic of Taiwan," he said.
Changing strategy
While the pan-blue alliance used to embrace the "1992 consensus," or the notion of "one China, with each side making its own interpretation," it continued to change its cross-strait strategy over the years.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) once proposed "integration under a one-China roof."
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) confederated Soong's dictum to the recent "two-Chinas status quo."
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who heads the pan-blue alliance's presidential campaign headquarters, said last Tuesday that the pan-blue bloc will shift its strategy to maintain the status quo and pursue cross-strait stability, and that it will not rule out Taiwanese independence.
Commenting on the blue camp's policy flip-flop, Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信), director of the DPP's Chinese Affairs Department, said that Lien owes the public an explanation regarding its China policy.
"When President Chen first introduced the `one country on each side' theory, Lien criticized it harshly. Now he turned around to endorse it, but still didn't have the guts to say that Taiwan is an independent sovereign country," he said.
"He should tell the electorate exactly what he means by `one country.' Is it the Republic of China or is it the People's Republic of China?" he said.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS