Former Tainan county commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) yesterday said he was planning to hold a march of 100,000 people on May 20 to protest against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” proposal.
The proposal, which was mentioned by former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) in his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on Thursday, would have a devastating impact on Taiwan’s international status, he told a press conference.
“There is no better occasion than President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony for his second and final presidential term to voice our opposition against the proposal,” said Su, who has declared his intention to run for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chair.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
In the US-China Shanghai Communique of 1972, the US acknowledged a “one China” policy that stated that “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China,” he said.
Since Wu made the comment, which he said had been authorized by Ma, in China, the proposal is likely to mislead the international community into believing that Taiwan is content to be a “regional government” under China, Su said.
Also, because Wu made the comment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has long been recognized by most countries in the world as the only legal government of China, Su added, most countries would likely interpret the “one country” as the PRC, not the Republic of China (ROC).
“To say that the ‘one country’ represents the ROC is self--deception,” Su said, adding that the “status quo” of cross-strait relations is “the ROC on one side and the People’s Republic of China on the other.”
The 55-year-old said the KMT is retreating from its previous position of “one China with different interpretations” and Ma’s change of position on the major issue had not been authorized by the public or backed by domestic consensus.
“The Ma administration has to realize that it cannot do anything it wants simply because Ma won a second term,” Su said.
Su said the march would be bipartisan and he called for anyone “who finds the elimination of the ROC intolerable” to participate in the march.
Various groups are also -planning to stage protests on the same day, including pig farmers, who are unhappy with Ma’s handling of the lifting of the ban on ractopamine, as well as pro-independence organizations and supporters, who are demanding Ma grant an amnesty to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption.
Su said he would talk to DPP interim Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊) today about possible party support for the march, but would like to keep the amnesty issue out of the planned event, since opposition to the KMT proposal should be the main theme.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS