New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and other advocates yesterday said that, despite US President Barack Obama’s comments, independence is still a necessity for Taiwan.
Obama on Friday said that Taiwanese have “a high degree of self-determination” and that “Taiwanese have agreed that as long as they’re able to continue to function with some degree of autonomy, that they won’t charge forward and declare independence.”
Obama’s ideas about Taiwan seem to be entrenched in a decades-old mindset, which was first forged when the US switched official diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China and adopted the “one China” policy, Huang said at a seminar held to discuss issues pertaining to Taiwanese independence organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
After years of democratization, Taiwan is a considerably different nation from when the US was shaping its “one China” policy, Huang said.
“There is a large gap between Obama’s speech and the Taiwanese perception [of reality]. Taiwan is already a sovereign nation, but many countries still do not recognize it. To break out from that predicament, we have to work toward normalizing the nation,” Huang said.
“Obama, as the US president, should understand the values of democracy, and those values entitle Taiwanese to the right to make Taiwan a normalized country,” he said.
Calling on all political parties in the US to support Taiwan, Huang encouraged the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump to re-examine Washington’s “one China” policy and treat Taiwan like a true ally instead of a bargaining chip.
Academia Sinica assistant research fellow Wu Rwei-ren (吳叡人) said Obama’s remarks indicated no departure from previous US policies on Taiwan, whereas both houses of the US Congress in July passed legislation reaffirming the “six assurances,” marking an improvement in Taiwan-US relations.
The “bidding” between Obama and Trump over Taiwan-US relations forced Obama to reiterate the US’ commitment to Taiwan, effectively preventing China from interfering in Taiwan’s de facto independence, Wu said.
Although Trump might use Taiwan as a bargaining chip against China, the deals he wanted to reach — including China making concessions over trade and the disputed South China Sea — are hardly attainable, so Trump’s move could help stabilize Taiwan’s status and create a rare opportunity for reassessing the US’ “one China” policy, Wu said.
Thus far, Taiwan is the “small winner” of the Obama-Trump exchange, as the nation has succeeded in gaining rare international attention without being a troublemaker, he said.
Taiwanese independence is absolutely necessary given that Chinese expansionism and imperialism is on the rise and Trump’s administration might implement unorthodox foreign policies, Wu said.
“Under China’s economic and military threat, Taiwan’s efforts to deepen its democracy have been deterred to the point that the nation’s de facto independence could be compromised,” Wu said.
Apparent attempts by China to interfere with Taiwan’s autonomy include military activities, economic invasion, collusion with Taiwanese politicians and businesses and acquisitions of Taiwanese media to manipulate society, he said.
Other attempts include restricting Taiwan from amending the Constitution and the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to attain a direct democracy.
The Democratic Progressive Party, which on Friday last week raised a motion to shelve proposals for a referendum on amending the constitutional definition of Taiwan’s territories, seems to be cooperating with Beijing to prevent a direct democracy, he said.
While the Additional Articles of the Constitution stipulate that a proposal passed by the Legislative Yuan on territorial changes should be ratified by a referendum, it was considered by the government to be “too controversial and too provocative” to be written into law, suggesting China’s influence over Taiwan’s democratic development, Huang said.
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify