Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that US President George W. Bush's criticism of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) actually helps Taiwan and highlights the country's need to defend itself against China's missiles.
Lu said the comments made during Bush's meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) amounted to successful "placement marketing."
"President Chen did not fail and Taiwan did not lose any points. The `defensive referendum' has made international society more concerned about the status quo in the cross-strait relationship and had a positive impact for Taiwan," Lu said.
"International society should now better understand that Taiwan wants to promote and practice the same kind of democracy as in the US, while China acts against the UN's anti-military stance and that it is the bad guy who makes wrong accusations first," she said.
After meeting with Wen, Bush said: "The comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally, to change the status quo, which we oppose."
The media and opposition parties in Taiwan have interpreted the comment as a serious warning and said Chen's insistence on holding a referendum had created problems for the country.
But Lu, who was nominated as Chen's running mate on Thursday, defended her boss yesterday.
She said that the contents of the Bush-Wen talk might have violated the Taiwan Relations Act. What was more important, she said, was that international society and the US Congress had all voiced their support for Taiwan.
"Taiwan has been a good child, an honors student of democracy, but the Taiwanese leader cannot go to Washington to meet with the American leader, who also pursues the universal values of democracy, human rights and peace," Lu said.
"Yet the communist leader of the biggest authoritarian state in the world, who threatened the use of military force against Taiwan, was a guest at the White House," Lu said.
"Does that match the US' traditional spirit and founding values?" she asked.
Lu said the US had mobilized a good portion of its army to look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to no avail, but there were hundreds of missiles deployed on China's coast aimed at Taiwan that the US pretends are not there.
Lu said Wen's talk and actions showed that China was still afraid of direct democracy in Taiwan because once the referendum went ahead, the result would deliver clearly the message that the Taiwanese people reject China and reunification.
"China is afraid of referendums," Lu said.
Lu said Bush's talk showed that the US opposed "the change of status quo" but not referendums themselves.
As long as Taiwan's government improves its communication with the US, promotes understanding on both sides and takes its case to international society, the US, in the end, will accept the defensive referendum, she said.
"The US and Taiwan both follow the same universal values, and we are important partners in strategy and economics. The US has never sacrificed its friends with common beliefs and values in its history, and we believe the Bush administration would not sacrifice or betray Taiwan," Lu said.
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,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
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