Despite criticism from some former US officials who urged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to come up with “something new” in cross-strait relations, the party looks set to stick to its Resolution on Taiwan’s Future.
Although a number of former US officials and academics, including former American Institute in Taiwan managing director Barbara Schrage, have criticized Tsai for what they consider a failure to present new policy proposals on cross-strait relations alongside her presidential bid, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday quoted an unnamed senior DPP official as saying that the party would stick to its 1999 resolution.
The party has good communication channels with the US government, and has confirmed that Schrage’s statement does not represent the US government’s official stance, the report quoted the DPP official as saying.
It is already an “old trick” of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party to manipulate retired officials or academics in Washington to pressure the DPP through making statements, the source said, adding that the trick might no longer be effective in the wake of the Sunflower movement protests and the DPP’s victories in the nine-in-one local elections last year, according to the report.
The DPP is confident that the resolution reflects a public consensus in Taiwan, and therefore would not give it up, the source reportedly said.
The Resolution on Taiwan’s Future refers to a declaration adopted by the DPP’s national convention in 1999 that says the party recognizes Taiwan as a sovereign nation and that any change to the “status quo” has to be decided by Taiwanese voters via a referendum.
The resolution also affirms the DPP’s stance that Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China and that it is opposed to the ideas of “one China” or “one country, two systems,” as “unilaterally proposed by China,” but would seek to establish friendly relations with China as two separate nations.
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
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
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
RSS