To become a normal democracy, the nation has to build up its Taiwanese identity against Beijing’s threats from within and outside the nation, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday.
“The key to whether Taiwan can become a normal democracy and a leading international nation is based on whether improving the identity of ‘new Taiwanese’ succeeds,” Lee said at a convention of the Presbyterian Church in Tainan.
New Taiwanese are people who love the nation, prioritize its interests and support local democratic values, Lee said.
Photo: CNA
For the past five decades, China has been a constant threat to Taiwan, often seeking to infringe on or suppress Taiwanese sovereignty, Lee said.
Beijing is prepared to obstruct Taiwan’s democratization militarily, as it did during Lee’s term, when it launched a series of large-scale missile tests in the Taiwan Strait in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election, resulting in the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, he said.
China has diversified its “united front” strategies by recruiting pro-unification supporters and sponsoring organized criminal activities in Taiwan to stir ethnic conflict and destabilize society, he said.
It also seeks to coerce Taiwan with economic manipulation, luring Taiwanese businesses from the nation to blunt the nation’s competitive edge, Lee said, adding that Taiwanese, while enjoying political freedom, are gradually losing economic autonomy to China.
“It is extremely irresponsible for any pro-Taiwanese leader not to take action against — or even to create — conflict between independence and unification groups,” Lee said.
“To overcome the challenge, the priority is to improve identification with Taiwan, where democracy is practiced. It is on such a basis that ethnic differences can be dissolved with democratization and anti-democracy politicians can no longer deceive the public with the fabricated ‘1992 consensus,’” he said.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The prosperity of a nation depends on a powerful leadership, a set of clearly defined goals and internal solidarity, Lee said.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the first time won both the presidency and legislative majority in last year’s general elections, but its administration has been mired in growing public dissatisfaction, giving rise to the fear that a local administration might be replaced.
To prevent the “reinstatement of a Chinese administration,” such as the KMT regaining the government in 2008, the DPP government should ensure a properly functioning democracy and party system, prevent social division and proceed with reforms, Lee said.
He commended Premier William Lai (賴清德) for his insistence on Taiwanese independence, saying it is rare that a premier has the boldness to openly insist on independence.
Lai’s appointment has helped boost President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating by 16 percentage points, and he is expected to lead economic development, Lee said.
He also called on Tsai to explain the DPP’s constitutional reform initiative to familiarize the public with the complicated issue, as DPP lawmakers have launched a proposal to amend the Constitution to pave the way for a pure presidential system.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS