President Chen Shui-bian (
"The most important task at hand is reforming the Constitution to consolidate our democracy and the foundations for Taiwan's future and long-term development," Chen said at a banquet last night at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation written by Peng Ming-min (彭明敏).
Peng, a senior presidential advisor and widely regarded as the godfather of the nation's independence movement, was joined by around 550 guests, including Deputy Premier Yeh Chu-lan (
The fundraising banquet was also held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Peng Ming-min Foundation.
Chen said the occasion recognized and honored Peng's lifelong devotion to Taiwan. He described Peng as "Taiwan's warrior" and likened Peng to a "beacon" in the nation's slow walk to democracy.
"The declaration drafted by Peng and his allies said something that no one else dared to say ... We respect and are in awe of their courage," Chen said.
At the time, Peng was director of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University. He drafted the declaration with two students, Hsieh Tsung-min (
The document declared that China and Taiwan should be recognized as separate legal entities; that it was impossible to "retake the mainland" as one popular Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) slogan used to say, for the ideology served only to perpetuate the KMT regime; and that the KMT government represented neither China nor Taiwan.
The declaration also set three basic objectives: establish a new state with a new government, create a new constitution and join the UN as a new nation.
While acknowledging Taiwan's achievements in democratization, Chen drew a comparison with the US and other democratic countries, and said that there was still some room for improvement.
Peng expressed gratitude to those who helped him throughout the decades, and spoke also of the challenge that the country faces today.
"Everyone knows about Tai-wan's democracy now, but the main issue facing us is this: Are we willing to work and sacrifice to uphold and consolidate Taiwan's democracy?" Peng said.
Turning to the heated debate on the DPP government's NT$610.8 billion arms package, Peng showed little patience with those who opposed it.
"If these people dare to claim -- and really are -- lovers of peace as they say, then they should go to Beijing and promote their message of peace there," Peng said. "In view of the threat faced by the nation, we need to protect ourselves."
Peng, a native of Taichung County, said that the Feb. 28 Incident in 1947 aroused within him an abhorrence of the undemocratic and heavy-handed KMT regime, which led him, as a political scientist, to issue a public statement urging people to challenge it.
The Feb. 28 Incident saw clashes between Taiwanese and the newly-installed KMT government lead to the killing of tens of thousands of people.
A new edition of Peng's memoir, A Taste of Freedom, written overseas after escaping from Taiwan, was also released yesterday.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS