To become a normal democracy, the nation has to build up its Taiwanese identity against Beijing’s threats from within and outside the nation, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday.
“The key to whether Taiwan can become a normal democracy and a leading international nation is based on whether improving the identity of ‘new Taiwanese’ succeeds,” Lee said at a convention of the Presbyterian Church in Tainan.
New Taiwanese are people who love the nation, prioritize its interests and support local democratic values, Lee said.
Photo: CNA
For the past five decades, China has been a constant threat to Taiwan, often seeking to infringe on or suppress Taiwanese sovereignty, Lee said.
Beijing is prepared to obstruct Taiwan’s democratization militarily, as it did during Lee’s term, when it launched a series of large-scale missile tests in the Taiwan Strait in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election, resulting in the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, he said.
China has diversified its “united front” strategies by recruiting pro-unification supporters and sponsoring organized criminal activities in Taiwan to stir ethnic conflict and destabilize society, he said.
It also seeks to coerce Taiwan with economic manipulation, luring Taiwanese businesses from the nation to blunt the nation’s competitive edge, Lee said, adding that Taiwanese, while enjoying political freedom, are gradually losing economic autonomy to China.
“It is extremely irresponsible for any pro-Taiwanese leader not to take action against — or even to create — conflict between independence and unification groups,” Lee said.
“To overcome the challenge, the priority is to improve identification with Taiwan, where democracy is practiced. It is on such a basis that ethnic differences can be dissolved with democratization and anti-democracy politicians can no longer deceive the public with the fabricated ‘1992 consensus,’” he said.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The prosperity of a nation depends on a powerful leadership, a set of clearly defined goals and internal solidarity, Lee said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the first time won both the presidency and legislative majority in last year’s general elections, but its administration has been mired in growing public dissatisfaction, giving rise to the fear that a local administration might be replaced.
To prevent the “reinstatement of a Chinese administration,” such as the KMT regaining the government in 2008, the DPP government should ensure a properly functioning democracy and party system, prevent social division and proceed with reforms, Lee said.
He commended Premier William Lai (賴清德) for his insistence on Taiwanese independence, saying it is rare that a premier has the boldness to openly insist on independence.
Lai’s appointment has helped boost President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating by 16 percentage points, and he is expected to lead economic development, Lee said.
He also called on Tsai to explain the DPP’s constitutional reform initiative to familiarize the public with the complicated issue, as DPP lawmakers have launched a proposal to amend the Constitution to pave the way for a pure presidential system.
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS