Taiwan will not negotiate with a regime that kills its own people and supports Myanmar's military junta, the Executive Yuan said yesterday in response to Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
"Human rights and democracy are the foundation of the country," Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
"That is why Taiwan can connect with the world. If the Beijing administration really wants to pin its hopes on the people of Taiwan, it should listen to them and think about the people killed, imprisoned and arrested during the 38 years of martial law and 50 years of one-party rule. It should realize what price the Taiwanese have paid for human rights and democracy," he said.
While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might rule China, it does not represent all Chinese, Shieh said.
"The Taiwanese and Chinese can stand together for democracy and human rights, but we will never discuss peace, unification or any other issues with a regime that bullies and suppresses Tibet, kills its own people and backs the military junta in Myanmar," he said.
Shieh made the remarks at an event promoting Taiwan's UN membership campaign at the Executive Yuan yesterday afternoon.
Lai I-chung (
"Hu does not seem to understand that `one China,' `one country, two systems,' and `peaceful unification' do not have any market in Taiwan. They are only popular among a few groups," he said. "The public opinion is that Taiwan is an independent sovereignty and Taiwan and China are two different countries. Any change to the `status quo' must obtain the consent of the Taiwanese public."
Although Hu proposed an end to cross-strait enmity, Lai said that Taiwan has never been hostile to China, while Beijing has 1,000 missiles targeted at Taiwan and seeks to limit Taiwan's diplomatic space and economic power.
"The crux of the problem does not lie in enmity but in China's unwillingness to reconcile with Taiwan," he said. "Both sides can only reconcile if China stopped its military intimidation and diplomatic oppression and recognized Taiwan's existence."
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement yesterday afternoon criticizing China's "one China" policy as the "biggest obstacle" in cross-strait relations, emphasizing that Taiwan's sovereignty belonged to the 23 million people of Taiwan who have the final say on the nation's future.
"China's one-party rule and bogus democracy cannot bring sustainable development to China or bring real peace to the Taiwan Strait," the statement said. "Democracy is the foundation of peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait. We are calling on the Chinese authority to abandon its rigid thinking and adopt a practical approach to face the reality that neither side is subordinate to the other."
DPP vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that Beijing had to refrain from trying to force the Taiwanese public to accept its terms, and should instead respect the will of the Taiwanese to decide their future.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu