China's "Anti-Secession" Law en-acted in 2005 unquestionably destroyed the mechanisms for improving cross-strait relations Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday.
Two communiques signed between Beijing and two pan-blue leaders later that year further im-peded Taiwan's struggle for independence, he said.
The"Anti-Secession" Law, passed in China on March 14, 2005, authorized the Chinese military to take Taiwan via "non-peaceful" means if Taiwan makes moves towards de jure independence.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen yesterday blasted the law, along with the two communiques signed by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (
The two communiques, namely the agreements signed between Lien and Chinese President Hu Jin-tao (胡錦濤) in April 2005 and another signed between Hu and Soong later that year, all carried strong pro-unification undertones that gave a thumbs-up to the so called "one-China" principle, Chen said.
"Although the KMT, being the opposition party at the time, had no legal authority to sign any agreements on behalf of the government, the passage of the law and the signing of the communiques has since become the trammel of Taiwan's fate," Chen said.
He condemned the communiques as appendages to the "Anti-Secession" Law that give Beijing more ground to strangle Taiwan's standing in internationally.
The communiques not only failed to recognize "one-China, two interpretations," they also function like a dummy company to help China "smuggle" in its "one-China" principle that would eventually sell out Taiwan's sovereignty, he said.
For example, he said, after signing the communiques, Hu has on numerous occasions cited them as justification to claim Taiwan as part of the "motherland."
Chen also chastised Beijing's "two-faced approach" of giving Taiwanese businessmen economic sweeteners while increasing the number of missiles pointing at Taiwan.
MAC Vice-chairman Liu Teh-hsun (劉德勳) pointed out Article five of the law -- often overlooked by critics -- which stipulates that Taiwan would only be allowed to exist under a "high degree of autonomy after reunification."
"The vision of the future should be better than the current reality. How is a `high-degree of autonomy' a better offer than what Taiwan has right now?" he said, adding that if China was sincere, it should offer Taiwan something lucrative enough for it to be willing to change its status.
Meanwhile, in related news, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) warned in an interview published yesterday that China would never stop intimidating and harassing Taiwan regardless of who wins the presidential election next weekend.
Chen said China would have already "taken" Taiwan if he had not upheld its sovereignty during the past eight years.
"You think that when a certain person assumes power, a certain party comes into power, China will change its ambition, intention and preparations to annex Taiwan?" Chen told the Financial Times.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
ALLEVIATING FEARS: The CECC would only announce public places where it is difficult to identify everyone there at the same time as the couple, minister Chen said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced six places where two locally infected COVID-19 cases had visited between Thursday last week and Sunday, urging people who had been at the places at the same time to monitor their health. The couple, cases 838, a doctor, and 839, his nurse girlfriend, were reported by the center on Tuesday. The doctor had treated a patient with COVID-19 last week before he began suffering symptoms on Friday, while the nurse began suffering symptoms on Saturday. They work in the same hospital in northern Taiwan, but the nurse had not worked with COVID-19 patients, so
SECOND RULING: Israeli-American Oren Shlomo Mayer refused to sign a court transcript, complained about the court translator and said the trial had been unfair The High Court yesterday upheld New Taipei City District Court’s verdicts on four men convicted last year in connection with the 2018 murder and dismemberment of a Canadian citizen on the banks of the Sindian River (新店溪). It found American-Israeli Oren Shlomo Mayer and American Ewart Odane Bent guilty of homicide and the abandonment and destruction of a corpse, with Mayer sentenced to life in prison and Bent given a term of 12 years and six months, for the death of Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan, whose body parts were found in a riverside park under Zhongzheng Bridge in New Taipei’s Yonghe
A lawyer and a prosecutor yesterday castigated what they called a lenient ruling by the High Court on Luo Wen-shan (羅文山), whose prison sentence was reduced to two years, which he does not need to serve, after he was convicted for receiving illegal political donations from China to meddle in Taiwan’s elections. Investigators found that Luo, who retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant general, had accepted NT$8.38 million (US$294,604 at the current exchange rate) under the guise of political contributions from Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference member Xu Zhiming (許智明) and people in Hong Kong from 2008 to
RSS