President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) did not denigrate the country’s sovereignty or move toward de-Taiwanization by describing Taiwan as a region, Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said on Monday.
Wang was referring to Ma’s redefinition of the cross-strait status quo as “a special relationship, but not a relationship between states” in an interview with a Mexican newspaper last month.
Wang said Ma did not create the term “Taiwan region” to blur the country’s sovereignty, saying that Ma’s new characterization of the cross-strait relationship as one between the “Taiwan region” and the “mainland region” was in accordance with the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution.
Based on the constitutional framework, both regions are part of the Republic of China’s (ROC) territory, but only the “Taiwan region” is under the rule of the ROC, Wang said.
The ROC is an independent sovereign state, the spokesman said. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ruled separately and should treat each other equally as defined in the ROC Constitution, which was amended in 1991, Wang said.
Wang denied that Ma’s theory undermined the country’s sovereignty, saying it was undeniable that the ROC is an independent sovereignty and that the relationship between the two regions is an equal one.
Taiwan can move toward improving cross-strait relations without fear of downgrading the country’s sovereignty, Wang said.
Wang cited Ma’s use of the term “Taiwan” 43 times in his inaugural address, compared with the nine references to the “Republic of China” as an indication that Ma was not downgrading Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Ma also said that the ROC spent a brief 38 years in China, but has spent nearly 60 years in Taiwan Wang said. During these last six decades, the destinies of the Republic of China and Taiwan have been intertwined.
Ma said that ROC founding father Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) dream of a constitutional democracy was not realized in China, but today it has taken root, blossomed and borne fruit in Taiwan, Wang said.
Regarding the changing of Taiwan Post Co’s (台灣郵政) name back to Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) soon after Ma took office, Wang said the decision was reached at a board meeting in July and was being implemented in accordance with the law, as the company’s original adoption of Taiwan Post had not followed legal procedures.
As for the former Democratic Progressive Party’s decision to add the word “Taiwan” in English on the ROC passport cover and official documents to make them more easily identifiable, Wang said Ma supported the practice because it did not violate the law.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS