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.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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