Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state. Neither Taiwan nor China belongs to the other.
This is a fundamental stance that the Taiwanese people should retain.
Taiwan and China have never been unified and so there should be no question of secession. Therefore we are by all means opposed to China and its "anti-secession" law. The law violates international law, threatening and damaging world peace.
The UN and its members must face up to the issue solemnly, and immediately express their concern and take the necessary measures against China, whose act is in violation of international law and the UN Charter, and in any event constitutes a breach of international peace.
The anti-secession law is in fact an annexation law enacted for the purpose of invading and annexing Taiwan.
Though Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, it has yet to become a "normal" one. The great and important project of normalizing Taiwan has to continue.
The four causes that the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance has attempted to promote -- including changing the name of Taiwan, the writing of a new constitution, the holding of a referendum on independence and gaining entry to the UN -- have to be kept in place.
First, Taiwan must change its name.
Since the UN General Assembly's passage of Resolution 2758 in 1971, Taiwan has been excluded from the UN, and with this the government and the people lost all their lawful rights at the UN and in most of the organizations connected to it.
If Taiwan wants to exist and develop in the international community, the name of the country has to be changed to "Taiwan" in order to gain more international support for its cause.
Second, Taiwan must write a new constitution.
To become a normal country, Taiwan needs a constitution that is centered on Taiwan, compatible with the current situation and written by the people themselves.
Third, Taiwan must have a referendum. Holding a referendum is the implementation of the idea of "power in the hands of the people" and makes up for the inadequacy of parliamentary politics.
Taiwanese people must retain the right to decide on major affairs important to the future of the nation through referendums.
Fourth, Taiwan must join the UN. Nowadays, all countries, both big and small, take joining the UN for granted.
At present there are 192 countries in the world, and Taiwan is the only one that is being actively excluded from the UN.
Therefore we must make great strides to become a UN member so that we may have the chance to contribute to world peace and international cooperation.
The Taiwanese people's four "musts" and one "insistence" aim to establish Taiwan as a normal country in the international community.
The democratization of this country has from the very beginning been a process of challenging the impossible but achieving real results.
By the same token, the normalization of Taiwan is a magnificent but daunting and ongoing process in which the impossible must continue to be challenged.
To turn the impossible into the possible, we have to find common ground and work together to achieve our mutual goal.
Chen Lung-chu is the chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.
TRANSLATED BY DANIEL CHENG
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS