Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told reporters that his approach toward Taiwanese independence was pragmatic and based on three tenets.
Lai held a media roundtable in Hualien County, where reporters asked about his depiction of himself as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence.” He had once again used the term at an April 3 seminar on freedom of speech held by the Ministry of the Interior.
He said the first tenet is that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation and therefore does not need to declare independence, Lai said.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The second is that only the nation’s 23 million people have the right to decide Taiwan’s future, and the third is that building up Taiwan and making it stronger and more attractive to people so that they support it is a practical approach to Taiwanese independence, Lai said.
Working for Taiwanese independence involves safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, protecting its freedom, democracy and human rights, and safeguarding the public’s right to decide Taiwan’s future, he added.
It also means developing the economy and creating growth so that people can live and work in peace; maintaining peaceful development and enhancing mutual understanding across the Taiwan Strait; and working with Japan, South Korea and the US to ensure security in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
While Lai has consistently emphasized his role as a “Taiwanese independence worker,” it has taken different tones over the past year.
At the April 3 seminar, Lai recalled saying during his first administrative report to the Legislative Yuan as premier in September last year that he was a “Taiwanese independence worker,” but added: “I did not say I advocate Taiwanese independence.”
However, in that report on Sept. 26, Lai told lawmakers that when he was Tainan mayor, he had told the city council that he was a “political worker who advocates Taiwanese independence” and that “this will not change, no matter what position I am in.”
In June last year, while still mayor, Lai said he felt an “affinity toward China as much as he loves Taiwan,” and argued at the legislative hearing in September that this did not contradict his stance on Taiwanese independence.
Chinese media reported that live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait scheduled for Wendesday by the People’s Liberation Army on Wednesday would serve as a warning after Lai’s pro-independence statements.
However, Lai yesterday said that his support for Taiwanese independence started in the 1990s and his political beliefs are well known.
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,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS