China’s ostentatious military parade yesterday in Beijing was “regrettable” and goes against the global trend, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said as it slammed China for trying to intimidate the world by showcasing its military prowess.
Taiwan and China are two separate, independent countries and the DPP fully respects China’s wish to hold a celebration to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule, DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) told a press conference.
“But its elaborate military parade was undoubtedly staged by the Chinese authoritarian regime to show off its military capability to intimidate others. The question is, who and what region are they trying to intimidate? To whom does China want to show off its force?” Chao said.
He said the gesture was no different than imperialistic practices of the 19th century.
The DPP called on Taiwanese media to “exercise self-discipline” while covering the event and said the press must send a clear message to the public on China’s military threat to this country.
Without naming names, Chao criticized coverage of the event by some Taiwanese media outlets that emphasized Beijing’s military might without providing commentaries on Beijing’s potential threat to regional stability.
Taiwan, he said, is an independent, sovereign country that is confronted by China’s ever-growing military menace. The media should transcend political bias to keep the public fully informed of reality, he said.
At a separate setting, when asked to comment on whether China’s parade could be seen as a threat to Taiwan, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government did not have a say on how China celebrated its national day, but both sides of the Taiwan Strait have developed a common understanding to pursue peaceful development in cross-strait relations.
The Chinese government should face the reality that the two sides of the Strait are under divided rule and that they each should share information in international organizations, Wu said.
While the government was dedicated to pursuing peaceful development of cross-strait relations, it will also seek to develop closer relations with other countries such as the US and Japan and maintain a sufficient self-defense capability, including the purchase of necessary weaponry, he said.
The Dharamsala-based Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) yesterday condemned China for its celebration of 60 years of Chinese Communist Party rule, calling it a celebration of “60 years of violence, lies, oppression and occupation of Tibet.”
“Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China ... the Chinese government has not only illegally occupied and colonized Tibet, East Turkistan and Southern [Inner] Mongolia, it has carried out many wrong and disastrous policies that have resulted in the death of more than 30 million Chinese people,” the TYC said in a statement.
The world should be alarmed by China’s display of advanced weaponry in yesterday’s parade, the statement said, calling it a contradiction of Beijing’s claim to the “peaceful rise of China.”
“The TYC, while reiterating its stand for the complete independence of Tibet, appeals to the world to not allow China’s economic or military might to trump human rights and international law,” the statement said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that all embassies and overseas representative offices have been instructed to cancel the annual reception for Oct. 10 National Day this year in line with the Presidential Office’s decision to cancel the fanfare in Taipei this year because of Typhoon Morakot.
More than NT$60 million (US$1.9 million) would be saved by not holding the annual receptions and this money will be given to the Morakot relief fund, the ministry’s deputy spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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