Taiwan “resolutely” rejects Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula as a solution to cross-strait relations, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) again issued the call in his speech on China’s National Day, saying that Beijing would persist in its determination to “peacefully reunite [China and Taiwan] under ‘one country, two systems,’” and would “maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau.”
China would “push for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, and continue to fight for the realization of the complete unification of the ‘motherland,’” Xi said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The “one country, two systems” formula is not suitable for Taiwan, the council said, calling instead on Beijing to implement democratic reforms to benefit its people.
The Republic of China (ROC) has been a sovereign nation for 108 years, and on Taiwan, it is has put democracy into practice and prospered, it said.
“Chinese authorities must realize what is an international fact: Taiwan has never for a second been a part of the People’s Republic of China,” it said.
By clinging to a one-party dictatorship for 70 years, the Chinese Communist Party has violated the democratic and human rights of its people, turning itself into a threat and a challenge to the nation’s sustained development, it said.
“Talking about ‘struggle’ and the ‘great rejuvenation and unification’ [of Chinese people] ... are just excuses for military expansion that threatens regional peace and stability,” it said.
The Taiwanese government will not waver in its protection of the nation’s sovereignty and democracy, and will never give in to threats or coercion, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party spokeswoman Hsueh Cheng-yi (薛呈懿) said that Taiwanese would never forget Xi’s threat of the use of force as an option to unify China and Taiwan.
The results of China’s “one country, two systems” can already be seen in Hong Kong, where public calls for democracy have been met with violent suppression, she said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that it was regrettable that Xi appeared not to have noticed changes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait over the past nine months.
“The KMT does not support the ‘one country, two systems’ framework and disapproves of the way President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has attempted to equate it with the ‘1992 consensus,’” it said in a statement.
The KMT urges all parties to face the fact that the ROC and its Constitution exist, it said.
As a middle-of-the-road party, the KMT strictly adheres to the ROC Constitution in handling cross-strait affairs, it said.
In 1992, the KMT helped establish the cross-strait consensus of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means,” it said.
If the KMT is voted back into power, it would ensure peace and promote cross-strait exchanges based on the “1992 consensus,” as well as on its opposition to “one country, two systems” and Taiwanese independence, it said.
As the Double Ten National Day nears, the party urges all citizens to celebrate the day by displaying the ROC national flag, it said.
The New Power Party said that “it would be impossible for Taiwan to ever accept the ‘one country, two systems’ framework.”
Beijing should respect Taiwan’s sovereignty and stop its unrealistic fantasy and attempts at interference, the party said.
“Taiwan will not adopt the ‘one country, two systems’ with a country that has no respect for human rights,” NPP spokesman Chen Chih-ming (陳志明) said.
Taiwan will continue to work on establishing itself by championing human rights, freedom and rule law, he said.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
RSS