President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that Taiwanese people have to be proud of the country's democratic achievements, and that those who want to unite with China by accepting the "one country, two systems" framework will cause Taiwan's democracy to regress.
Chen made the remarks while campaigning in Changhua County yesterday for the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) county commissioner candidate, Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠), reminding people of the scale and magnitude of Taiwan's democratic achievements.
Wong is seeking re-election.
Chen said yesterday that tomorrow, one day after Taiwan holds its local government elections, thousands of people in Hong Kong would participate in a demonstration against the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特區基本法). For years, Hong Kong democracy activists have been demanding direct elections, so that they can choose the territory's chief executive and their lawmakers.
"Hong Kong has economic prosperity but lacks democracy. Taiwanese people can vote freely. We should be proud of this. Unfortunately, some people are unaware of this," Chen said, implying that the opposition parties' frequent contact with Beijing might eventually hurt the interests of all Taiwanese people.
"Some people want to unite Taiwan with China and accept Beijing's "`one country, two systems' mechanism. This will eventually cause democratic regression," he said.
The president said the democratic system in Taiwan gave him the chance, as an ordinary person from a poor family, to be elected the president of the country.
"I have been firmly defending Taiwan's democracy and sovereignty for a long time. I will keep doing this to prevent Taiwan from becoming part of China," Chen said.
In an interview with a local cable station on Thursday, Chen reiterated that the implementation of the three-links between Hong Kong and China did not lead to prosperity for the territory.
"Please be clever enough to ditch fancy ideas over Taiwan's prosperity being linked to the implementation of direct links with China. Taiwan has to hold national security above commercial interests," he said during the interview.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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