Taiwan must uphold its democracy and embrace the world for a brighter future, but would become another Hong Kong if it adheres to the idea of “one China,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai made the comments in response to controversy about opinions shared by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with Deutsche Welle on Saturday.
Ma told the German media outfit that Taiwan has no choice but to trust Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on cross-strait relations, and that Taiwan could never win a war against China, implying that having a strong defense would be dangerous for Taiwan.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“The time for Ma and his viewpoints belong in the past. History has turned over a new page,” Lai said when stumping for DPP legislative candidate Lin Chih-chieh (林志潔) in Hsinchu City yesterday morning. “Taiwanese must have idealism and aspire for peace, but must not be deluded.”
Ma’s “trust Xi” comment neglects the fact that China has tried to link the so-called “1992 consensus” — which the KMT supports and Beijing insists must be a basis for cross-strait relations — with Beijing’s “one China” principle and the “one country, two systems” model, Lai said.
Therefore, if Taiwan is to proceed on the path laid out by Ma and the KMT, then Taiwan would end up like Hong Kong, which is “certainly is not where Taiwanese want to go,” he said.
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted to making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Only under a DPP government can Taiwan build a stronger national defense, enhance economic growth and reinforce links to with fellow democracies, thereby building an effective deterrent, Lai said.
Heading into the campaign’s final stretch, Lai led a motorcade in Hsinchu County yesterday morning, then visited districts in Taoyuan in the afternoon to stump for DPP legislative candidates.
Meanwhile, DPP vice presidential candidate and former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) spent the day in southern Taiwan attending campaign events and riding motorcades to support legislative candidates in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung.
Separately, Lai’s campaign spokesman Vincent Chao (趙怡翔) said Ma’s comments “provided Beijing’s leaders with excuses to launch a military invasion of Taiwan.”
Chao during a news conference criticized Ma for “openly advocating for capitulation,” as Ma said in the interview that China is “too large and too strong,” and that Taiwan cannot defend itself.
Yet when asked, “Ma would not ask China to give up use of military force against Taiwan,” Chao said.
“We believe most Taiwanese are angry at hearing what Ma had to say. It is quite surprising that a former president of this nation would make such defeatist comments,” Chao said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS