Panelists attending a forum on the nation's UN bid yesterday warned of possible consequences to US-Taiwan relations following the government's push for a referendum on a UN bid using the name "Taiwan."
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, said he wanted to reassure the US government that "nothing will happen" if the referendum takes place alongside the presidential election next March.
"Damage has been caused to US-Taiwan relations [because of the UN bid]," said Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂), the president of the Institute for National Policy Research (INPR), host of the forum. "Recent statements by US officials implied that there is a new way of thinking about the Taiwan issue."
Tien urged the government to take the US stance on the matter seriously.
"Unless we don't want to count on US support in the international community anymore," he said.
Cho Hui-wan (卓慧菀), an assistant professor at National Chung Hsing University's Graduate Institute of International Politics, said she disagreed with Chen's remarks in the Journal interview that "nothing happened" even though the US had been unhappy about his initiative to hold a referendum in 2004 and the abolition of the National Unification Council and its guidelines last year.
"It's true China didn't start a war nor did it adopt high-handed measures against Taiwan following those events, but that didn't mean that `nothing happened,'" Cho said. "China has actively severed Taiwan's diplomatic ties, even brutally hampered its participation in the WHO. Cross-strait relations are obviously tenser than before."
Lin Cheng-yi (
He told the forum that although the UN referendum plan had provoked criticism from the US, it would not bring a structural change to US-Taiwan relations in the long term.
"The US cares about Taiwan's national security, but it has no intention of helping Taiwan expand its international space. China thinks it represents Taiwan internationally. Given this, Taiwan has to make its own way -- otherwise it will eventually be marginalized," Lin said.
Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), also present at the forum, called for the establishment of a high-level communications channel between the US and Taiwan so that the two countries could contribute to democracy, peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS