Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday solicited the support of nations around the world in Taiwan's efforts to resume long-stalled cross-strait dialogue.
Noting that Beijing has been working toward becoming a hegemonic power in the region, Lu appealed to governments across the globe to recognize and appreciate Taiwan's determination in maintaining and upholding peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Lu said that in light of Beijing's ambitions, the so-called Taiwan issue is not an issue between just two nations, but instead a regional issue that requires regional efforts to tackle successfully.
The vice president made the remarks during an audience at the Presidential Office with a group of foreign academics and opinion leaders who are in Taipei to take part in the Workshop on International Negotiations and Conflict Resolution sponsored by National Chengchi University.
Lu's guests included Jacob Bercovitch, dean of the Institute of Mass Communications Studies of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Norbert Ropers, director of Sri Lanka Department of the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies; and Zhao Quansheng (趙全勝), a director with the Institute of International Affairs, American University of the US.
The vice president said that the people of Taiwan have for a long time been ingenious in finding ways to prevent an outbreak of war in the Strait.
Taiwan is one of the very few countries in the world that has continued to survive under persistent and long-term political and military threats from a neighboring country and diplomatic isolation in the international community, Lu said.
The world may have recognized Taiwan's economic miracle and its political democratization, but the "miracle of peace" that Taiwan has achieved needs greater recognition, Lu added.
She said that the last thing that the Beijing leadership wanted to see was the re-election of President Chen Shui-bian (
Lu noted that in his Double Ten National Day speech, President Chen suggested that the two sides of the Strait build a mutual trust military mechanism, enter an era of cross-strait peace negotiations and conduct arms control talks.
His words were aimed at facilitating a resumption in the long-stalled cross-strait dialogue, Lu noted.
She stressed that in the era of globalization, the concepts of cross-strait unification and Taiwan independence are both "outdated," saying that Taiwan does not belong to China. "Taiwan belongs to the world," she asserted.
Meanwhile, the legislative caucus of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that next year is the best time for Taiwan and China to resume cross-strait talks as there are no national elections scheduled in Taiwan and since this December's legislative elections will create a new situation across the Strait.
In related news, Joanne Chang (裘兆琳), deputy representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington DC, yesterday urged the US not to make concessions to China on the Taiwan issue and to instead take concrete actions to encourage the two sides of the Strait to resume dialogue.
Chang said at the annual conference of the American Association for Chinese Studies that Beijing will be more reluctant to hold talks with Taiwan if the international community makes more concessions to Beijing.
Washington should be willing to play the role of promoter of cross-strait talks even though it is not willing to be a mediator, Chang said.
Taiwan appreciates the efforts made by the US in promoting a resumption of the cross-strait talks, she added.
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