The president and vice president yesterday attacked China for threat-ening Taiwan militarily, saying it would only push Taiwan away from unification.
President Chen Shui-bian (
"Universal values such as freedom, democracy and human rights have been realized in Taiwan, while mainland China still hasn't implemented them," Chen said.
Taiwan underwent a peaceful transition of political power two years ago and is now a democratic country, Chen said, but China is still an authoritarian regime where people can't elect their nation's leader.
"This is the biggest difference between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait," he said.
Chen praised his guest, Richard Kagan, a professor at Hamline University in the US, for his outstanding contribution to human rights in East Asia.
"Professor Kagan has testified to public hearings of the US Congress and spoke out about the real human-rights situation in Taiwan and helped international human-rights organizations rescue dissidents in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s," Chen said, adding that these actions had inspired many Taiwanese to seek justice and democracy.
The president said that Taiwan was now aggressively developing measures to promote human rights, including establishing the national Human Rights Committee and enhancing cooperation with international human-rights organizations.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu said recent remarks by Chi Haotian (
"Those remarks, which [Chinese] politicians have wasted their time in repeating, do nothing but push Taiwan away from reunification," Lu said. "They should concentrate more on their own people's interests."
Lu said that Taiwan was not a threat to China, "but if the Beijing authorities bully Taiwan too much and endanger Taiwan's security, then Taiwan will have no choice, and the Beijing authorities will have to take responsibility for creating such a situation."
"According to the United States' evaluation, China increased its budget for weapons by 65 billion yuan," Lu said. "Think about it: how many people would receive better care if this money was used on improving the country's welfare system."
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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