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.
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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