A group of independence advocates and pundits yesterday called on the nation to make the US dollar a second official currency, and strengthen economic and political links with Washington to “counter” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) “cooperation” with China.
“We denounce Ko for kowtowing to China at the Taipei-Shanghai Forum. Ko had no right to represent the public while reiterating his ideologue that ‘the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family,’” Northern Taiwan Society chairman Li Chuan-hsin (李川信), said at a news conference with Taiwan Society chairman Chang Yeh-shen (張葉森).
“We propose the idea that ‘both nations are one family,’ whereby the two nations mean Taiwan and the US,” Lee said, adding that most Taiwanese oppose Beijing’s plans to annex Taiwan.
Taiwan and the US should become one family, as they share common values and a belief in democracy, human rights and religious freedom, Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) said.
“Taiwan should be like a family member of the US and work closer with other democracies such as Japan and EU countries,” Yang added. “We must not follow in Ko’s footsteps and become part of feudal and tyrannical communist China’s family.”
The groups would urge President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier William Lai (賴清德) to adopt the US dollar as the second official currency in addition to the government’s plan to make English an official language by 2030.
The US dollar is already Taiwan’s unofficial second currency and many companies trade in US dollars, Yang said, adding that credit cards can already be used to pay in US dollars and other currencies.
“It will help protect our economy, because many Taiwanese companies do business in China and have assets pegged to the yuan,” he said. “But China is heading into an economic crisis due to the US-China trade dispute.”
“We have discussed this plan with the bosses of many big conglomerates and financial institutions, and they support it. Even Taiwan’s giant retailers and franchises support it, as it would allow people to make purchases in either NT dollars or US dollars,” Yang said.
The groups would ask Lai to implement the currency plan by next year and realize the English bilingual program by 2025 to achieve the “both nations are one family” goal, he said.
The measures must be implemented quickly “because we are racing against time to resist China’s annexation,” Chang said.
Chang also urged Tsai to immediately send a special envoy to Washington for high-level talks with the White House and the US Congress regarding the US-China trade dispute.
“We are worried that Tsai has not clearly expressed the desire of Taiwanese to become close friends and partners with the US, while opposing political and economic integration with China,” he said.
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