President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan.
Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation.
Photo: screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page
All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences on how they express national identification, Lai said.
Lai cited the 1949 Battle of Guningtou (古寧頭戰役) and the 1958 823 Artillery Battle (八 二 三砲戰) to highlight not only that ethnicity and one’s origins did not matter when war threatened the nation, but also to stress that China’s ambitions for Taiwan was based on expansionism, and not on the belief or stance of any person or political party.
Lai also mentioned the DPP’s 1999 “Resolution on Taiwan’s Future” (台灣前途決議文), 2004’s “Resolution on Ethnic Diversity and National Unity” (族群多元國家一體決議文) and the 2019 Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) to directly indicate that “recognition of Taiwan and the ROC should be mutually acceptable.”
Lai reiterated that regardless of whether people identified with the ROC, or Taiwan, or the ROC Taiwan, it was their choice to express their national identification, and that all Taiwanese support democratic values, and oppose authoritarianism and communism.
Lai also restated former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “four commitments,” which refer to Taiwan’s commitment to a democratic constitutional system, not being subordinate to China, protecting national sovereignty and the right of Taiwanese alone to determine their future.
Lai mentioned the “four commitments” with hopes to reiterate that political parties must be responsible to the public and must live up to their expectations, which is to maintain solidarity and defend Taiwan, a source said last night.
The president’s first talk was about a “nation” that defines “Taiwanese subjectivity” and creates a goal worthy of defense, while the second talk last night urged for national solidarity to jointly protect a democratic Taiwan, the source said.
The talk was an olive branch, following Lai’s previous invitation to opposition party leaders to participate in national security briefings, and he hopes that the opposition parties are amenable to working with the government against Chinese aggression, the source added.
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