President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the call in his opening speech to the 32th annual meeting of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA), which began yesterday in Brisbane, Australia. Chen delivered his address via a live video link from the Presidential Office.
WFTA, which unites overseas Taiwanese communities, has been dedicated to the promotion of Taiwanese national identity and the advancement of international support for the right of the Taiwanese people to establish an independent country since the organization was established in 1974.
In order to achieve its objective of Taiwan Independence, WFTA and other pro-independence organizations have lobbied the the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to change the country's official name from the "Republic of China" (ROC) to "Taiwan."
Chen, however, told the WFTA members that, "The biggest challenge Taiwan faces today is not which name is used but that China has been doing whatever it can to deny the fact that Taiwan is an independent country and to deprive Taiwan of the rights an independent country is supposed to have."
The tactics used by China were highlighted in the Pentagon's recent report, 2005 The Military Power of the People's Republic of China, Chen said, including its military threats, efforts to interfere in Taiwanese politics and efforts to prevent his re-election.
"Simply speaking, except for its traditional military threat, China has reinforced its `united front' tactics against Taiwan, attempting to divide the Taiwanese and then annex Taiwan," he said.
What Taiwan needs to do is to consolidate its people's psychological defenses, he said.
"We need to build a consensus about the country's future development. We also need to achieve a common position on cross-strait policies," Chen said.
"As long as we can unite and keep the same pace, we won't be afraid of the Chinese `united front' tactics and we can protect the sovereignty of Taiwan," he said.
Chen reiterated his two theories of the ROC's history and called on WFTA members to embrace them.
The first theory is "Four States' theory that says the nation's first stage was the establishment of the ROC in China in 1912. The second stage was when the ROC moved to Taiwan in 1949. Lee Teng-hui's (
The nation entered the fourth stage,"the ROC is Taiwan," after the 2000 presidential election and the first transfer of power.
Chen outlined his second theory, the "Three Stages" theory, that states that the ROC is an independent country, its sovereignty belongs to the 23 million Taiwanese and that any change of Taiwan's future can only be decided by its people.
The president said that the "Four Stages" theory represents the history of the country and the "Three Stages" theory stresses the country's future.
He said the two theories should not be treated separately but as a whole.
"In order to unite Taiwan and to build the common consciousness of being a new country, I hope the `Four Stages' theory can be understood and accepted," Chen said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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