Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday the government and the DPP must discuss whether the DPP's 1999 resolution on Taiwan's future (台灣前途決議文), which explicitly asserts that Taiwan is an independent state called the "Republic of China," can become government policy.
"An interim period is required for discussion as to whether the resolution can serve as a guideline for policy making or even practicable policy in its own right," Tsai said.
"The government must discuss the issue with the DPP and follow the president's instructions," she added.
Tsai made the remarks at a meeting with more than 140 legislative assistants at a two-day cross-strait affairs lecture and seminar program, which finished yesterday.
The DPP government's approach to cross-strait affairs is to maintain the status quo by not changing Taiwan's status either by declaring independence or seeking reunification.
Tsai told the Legislative Yuan in the last legislative session, "Our policy is neutral. We never think about independence and we never think about unification. We only think about how to manage relations smoothly."
President Chen Shui-bian (
The resolution declares that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state whose name is the "Republic of China."
Any changes regarding this independent status, it holds, must be collectively determined by all people in Taiwan through a public referendum.
Tsai's remark followed questions from legislative assistants about her opinion of Chen's statements.
"We have to consider subjective and objective factors as well as the interim and long term strategies of cross-strait affairs when responding to Chen's remarks," she said.
As to whether the National Unification Guidelines (
"Because of the change in circumstances [since the guidelines were drawn up], it is impractical to treat the guidelines as inviolable."
The guidelines were proposed by the KMT government in 1991 as a blueprint for Taiwan's reunification with China.
In related news, during a separate weekly news briefing, MAC Vice Chairman Jonathan Liu (
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation announced on Thursday that it will initiate an anti-dumping investigation on phenol exported from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the US to China.
Prior to the move, China notified the delegations of the four countries on Tuesday, in accordance with WTO rules .
This is the third time that China has initiated an anti-dumping investigation regarding Taiwan, but the first time that it has contacted the country under the WTO framework.
But the notification referred to "Chung-kuo Taipei (中國台北)" instead of the name under which Taiwan is formally registered in the organization -- The Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (台澎金馬個別關稅領域).
In response to China's move, Liu said that it was "quite appropriate" for China to contact Taiwan via the WTO framework since the two sides are members of the organization.
But he added, "It is inappropriate for China to unilaterally change Taiwan's name."
"We expect to interact with China through such international economic organizations. Even though the name China used is not appropriate, it will not influence how the government will protect the rights of related companies in terms of dealing with the probe," Liu said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS