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."
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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