President Chen Shui-bian (
"I am glad that President Chen told foreign guests he will display creativity in his inauguration speech to gain the understanding of the international community," the retired National Taiwan University law professor said yesterday. "I believe it means that he will neither mention the `five noes' in the May 20 inauguration speech nor talk about it in the next four years," he said.
Lee, who is authorized by Chen to lead a task force for drawing up a new Constitution, stressed that the situation right now is completely different from four years ago and so Chen should not make such a promise that would degrade Taiwan's dignity. He said he would quit if Chen reiterated the promises, which include not changing the nation's name or declaring independence.
"During the period of power transfer in 2000, Chen had to ease the international community's serious concerns about Taiwan's security as well as deal with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which still manipulated its giant party mechanism, military leaders and government officials after half a century in power," Lee said.
"President Chen had to make some concessions to pass the critical moment," Lee said. "If we seriously reviewed the contents of the `five noes,' which was built on the basis of China's renouncing the threat to use military force against Taiwan, we will find that the `five noes' were actually nonsense because China continued to increase its ballistic missile deployments as well as enhance military threats targeting Taiwan.
"China even detests the name Republic of China -- Taiwan's official title at the moment. Therefore, the `five noes' promise actually does not exist, because its precondition has not been accepted by the Beijing authorities," he said.
Asked what he would do if Chen mentions the "five noes" in his inauguration speech next Thursday, Lee said, "I will immediately quit the Constitutional task force."
Lee's advice echoed Senior Presidential Advisor Koo Kuan-min's (辜寬敏) remarks on Wednesday.
Lee spoke yesterday as he became president of the Ketagalan Institute, a talent-cultivating center created by Chen. He took over from Chen Shih-meng (
Lee said that his main mission would be to accomplish the president's campaign promise of drawing up a new constitution to replace the current one, which was promulgated more than half a century ago in China.
While pro-independence senior presidential advisors urged Chen to abandon the "five noes" pledge in his inauguration speech, other presidential advisors are urging him to reiterate them.
Eleven of them yesterday submitted a petition to Chen urging him to restate the "five noes" to break the cross-strait deadlock and repair US-Taiwan relations.
The petition, signed by Senior Presidential Advisor Po Yang (
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
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CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but