On Dec. 31 last year, the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights passed the third reading in the legislature. This is a step on the way to turning these international covenants into domestic law, and as such it should be encouraged.
However, when ratifying these covenants, the Legislative Yuan attached the following statement: "The United Nations, in practice, only recognizes the right of national self-determination for occupied territories, trust territories and non-self-governing territories.
"The exercise of the right of national self-determination first requires the recognition and support of the United Nations' General Assembly ... The Republic of China has long been a sovereign and independent state, and does not need to exercise the right of national self-determination."
Foreseeing that this attached statement would be harmful to the nation, the DPP's legislative caucus had to put the brakes on the legislation and request a reconsideration.
Clearly the contents of the attached statement are incorrect and unnecessary and will harm Taiwan both internationally and domestically. The principle of national self-determination is not only clearly stated in the UN Charter, but it is also stipulated in the same clear and forceful wording in the first article of each of the two above-mentioned international covenants.
The first clause of that article states, "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." The second clause deals with a nation's wealth and resources, the "right of economic self-determination." According to the third clause, each party to the covenant "shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right."
The application of the right of national self-determination is not limited to peoples in colonial territories, and prior recognition by the UN General Assembly or its related organizations is not required.
National self-determination is a collective human right, the right of a people within a territory to build their state, maintain the independence and sovereignty of that state, prevent external pressure and intervention, strive for economic, social and cultural development, and decide their common political future.
Colonial rule, independence and sovereignty are all part of the continuum of national self-determination. A subjected nation relies on the principle of self-determination to obtain independence and sovereignty. Already independent states rely on the same principle to prevent invasion, pressure and intervention by external forces, to protect the completeness of their independence, and to decide their future.
Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state. It's future should be decided by the 23 million Taiwanese. This is an inalienable right and we should maintain and protect our people's right to self-determination.
Chen Lung-chu is chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.
Translated by Perry Svensson
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS