Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) yesterday used the centennial of a revolution that ended imperial rule to make an appeal to further relations with Taiwan, saying they should move beyond the history that divides them and focus on common economic and cultural interests.
At a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Hu said China and Taiwan should end antagonisms, “heal wounds of the past and work together to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
“Achieving reunification by peaceful means best serves the fundamental interests of all Chinese, including our Taiwan compatriots,” Hu said, adding that the sides should increase economic competitiveness, promote Chinese culture and build on a sense of a common national identity.
Photo: Reuters
“We must strengthen our opposition to Taiwanese independence ... and promote close exchanges and cooperation between compatriots on both sides,” he said.
Hu has sought to move beyond the threatening rhetoric that long characterized Beijing’s response to Taiwan’s refusal to unify with China. His government has talked of ending the state of hostility with Taiwan.
A large portrait of the founding father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), hung over the stage on which sat current and former top leaders of China.
The ceremony in Beijing marks the Oct. 10, 1911, armed uprising led by rebels associated with revolutionary leader Sun on a Qing Dynasty garrison. The attack set in motion events that led to the overthrow of imperial rule and raised hopes that China could emerge from a century-and-a-half of national humiliation it had endured at the hands of foreign powers.
The Republic of China was established two-and-a-half months later, but its government fled in disarray to Taiwan in 1949 following the victory of Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War.
In his speech, Hu said Sun was “a great national hero, a great patriot and a great leader of the Chinese democratic revolution.”
He also characterized the CCP as the “core power” that drives China’s success.
“To achieve the great revival of the Chinese nation, we must certainly firmly uphold the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” Hu said.
However, the party’s version of the fall of the dynasty has been challenged by critics who say the chaotic chain of coups and insurrections that toppled the corrupt empire and subsequent violent faction conflicts and invasion by Japan are a reminder of the need for democratic reform in the present.
China again faces a dangerous confluence of official corruption, volatile public discontent and stalled reform, Zhou Ruijin (周瑞金), the former deputy editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily newspaper, said in a recent essay about the 1911 revolution.
“Grievances, distrust and rancor that have accumulated over many years have reached a period when they break out,” Zhou wrote in a Beijing magazine.
In past months, authorities have shown how sensitive they are about liberal intellectuals using the events of 1911 as a mirror to criticize or cajole the government. Some seminars and debates about the anniversary have been canceled.
“For us, China’s Xinhai Revolution is still not dead history, it still has a strong resonance with present-day realities,” said Lei Yi, a historian at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. “A key lesson of the revolution is that the country’s fate depends on whether the rulers make the right choices about advancing reforms. Above all, there’s still the issue that a modern China needs a modern form of government — constitutional government.”
Hu is due to leave office from late next year, when a CCP congress will install a new leadership.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE: During the altercations, KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin at one point pulled out a flute and started to play the national anthem A massive brawl erupted between governing and opposition lawmakers in the main chamber of the legislature in Taipei yesterday over legislative reforms. President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to be inaugurated on Monday, but his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the legislature and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been working with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to promote their mutual ideas. The opposition parties said the legislative reforms would enable better oversight of the Executive Yuan, including a proposal to criminalize officials who are deemed to make false statements in the legislature. “The DPP does not want this to be
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
Singapore yesterday swore in Lawrence Wong (黃循財) as the city-state’s new prime minister in a ceremony broadcast live on television after Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) stepped down following two decades in office. Wong, formerly deputy prime minister, was inaugurated at the Istana government office shortly after 8pm to become the second person outside the Lee family to lead the nation. “I ... do solemnly swear that I will at all times faithfully discharge my duties as prime minister according to law, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. So help me God,” the
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,