Taiwan’s democracy did not come as a gift, but was won through struggle and sacrifice, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai, who has been nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as its candidate for next year’s presidential election, made the remarks in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) electoral opponent and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who said freedom and democracy are in the DNA of the KMT.
Lai asked why, if freedom and democracy are in the DNA of KMT, the nation has only experienced it in the past 40 years.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Lai urged Hou, who on Wednesday secured the KMT’s nomination as its presidential candidate, to read up on Taiwanese history and the struggles Taiwanese endured during the democratic transition.
“Taiwan is a country with freedom and democracy. It only came from the arduous efforts and sacrifice of many Taiwanese, who fought through painful struggles and untold hardships,” Lai said at an awards ceremony for a high-school knowledge competition in Taipei.
“Freedom and democracy were not handed out by the KMT government. Even during the struggles, the KMT stood in the way, opposing it all the way,” he said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“KMT officials were oppressors, as it was the ruling regime. They were the ones people fought to gain freedom and democracy,” he added.
Democracy is a common value shared by Taiwanese, and the nation has received praise in the international community, but it is facing an existential crisis due to China’s military intimidation and propaganda, he said.
“It is regretful that the KMT’s nominated presidential candidate has accepted the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ and the ‘one China’ principle,” Lai said. “Under such a political framework, it is impossible to safeguard Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.”
China is creating conflict and divisions within Taiwan, he said, adding that it is wrong for the KMT to help China find scapegoats and to play the blame game.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit agreement between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The DPP has never acknowledged the “1992 consensus” or the “one China” principle.
The KMT is pandering to China by accepting the “1992 consensus,” along with the rhetoric of “peaceful unification with China,” Lai said.
This is propaganda warfare by Beijing, he said.
China conducts air drills and naval maneuvers around Taiwan, while threatening to attack, which is military intimidation, he said.
“If we start to accept this, or capitulate under the threat of Chinese military force, Taiwan’s sovereignty would be lost, and it would be the end of Taiwan,” he said.
“If there is no longer national sovereignty, how can we maintain freedom and democracy?” Lai asked.
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
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