Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday urged the public to join the campaigns opposing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and calling for abolishing the Referendum Review Committee, saying an ECFA referendum would be a watershed in Taiwan’s democracy and a way to prevent Taiwan from being bartered away.
Describing the proposed accord as a “strategic arrangement conspired by the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and Chinese Communist Party [CCP] for the annexation of Taiwan,” Lee said the two parties sought to use the trade pact to pave the way for ultimate unification with China.
“The way the government pushes the planned accord is very much like that of an authoritarian regime,” he said in a speech at an ECFA forum organized by the Taiwan Advocates, founded by Lee. “It turns a deaf ear to people’s concerns and the Referendum Review Committee joins in the chorus of the administration that submits to China.”
Calling for an immediate revision to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), Lee yesterday also signed the petition initiated by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) to propose another referendum on the ECFA after the first one was recently rejected by the Referendum Review Committee.
Lee said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration likes to say it cares for the people’s plight, but it seemed to him that the more miserable the people, the happier the Ma administration.
“I never saw such a government and national leaders,” he said. “The Taiwanese people elected a president who does not love Taiwan. It is pathetic to see him love China more than he loves this land.”
Lee said the planned cross-strait deal was a political and economic arrangement for the future of Taiwan. The nation’s sovereignty should lie in the hands of its 23 million people, and not the KMT, the CCP or the US, he said.
Taiwan will follow in the footsteps of Hong Kong and see its economic bubble burst if the Ma administration continues to ignore the impact of the free flow of manpower, capital, goods, technology and services across the Taiwan Strait, he said.
If Taiwanese do not come out and oppose the proposed pact, the international community will think the Taiwanese public is allowing the Ma administration to pursue its agenda this way, he said, warning that if the KMT and CCP manage to sign a peace treaty in the future, they will realize their goal of making Taiwan part of China.
“If the Taiwanese people don’t strive for their right to speak now, they will forever be taken advantage of by the KMT government, which seeks to eventually sell out Taiwan,” he said. “The ECFA issues is a watershed of deepening Taiwan’s democracy and determining our own future.”
Also at the forum, Chen Ming-siang (陳銘祥), a public administration professor at Tamkang University, said a referendum would be an effective way to compensate for the deficiency of the representation system, which he said was flawed because the minority has a hard time electing someone representing their interests.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS