Senior Taiwan independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) yesterday unveiled his proposal for a “nations of brotherhood” (兄弟之邦) framework to solve cross-strait relations and establish peace and stability.
The 87-year-old former presidential adviser explained his initiative with a full-page advertisement in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday.
The initiative is the first concrete proposal to emerge since former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) submitted his “constitutions with different interpretations” (憲法各表) proposal during his landmark visit to China earlier this month.
Koo said he came up with his initiative about seven years ago after drawing inspiration from a poem by Chinese poet Cao Zhi (曹植) and has been playing with the idea ever since.
However, he did not try to establish a framework to deal with cross-strait interaction until recently.
Koo’s initiative is based on the spirit of brotherhood, in which Taiwan and China, as brothers, help each other.
China could claim the title of the “big brother” due to its rising power.
If Beijing accepted the framework by recognizing Taiwan as a country and helping Taiwan secure UN membership, Koo proposed that Taiwan could “return four favors” to China by not joining anti-China alliances or organizations, abstaining from UN voting if it went against China’s policy, offering China US$50 billion in financial aid for its inland development and returning all antique collections at the National Palace Museum to China.
In terms of a cross-strait framework, the initiative could be Taiwan’s bottom line of negotiation, rather than Beijing’s bottom line of “one country, two systems,” Koo said.
The initiative would be more “practical” than Ma’s mantra of “no unification, no independence and no use of force,” which he described as meaningless.
“Most Taiwanese agree that Taiwan is an independent country and less than 10 percent support unification,” he said.
“Taiwan is not capable of declaring war against China,” he added.
Koo believes the concept would be easy for the international community to understand and accept because it would promote relations similar to those between the UK, the US and Canada or the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
China would also find it difficult to reject the proposal because it “needs cross-strait peace more than Taiwan does” and even if it took Taiwan by force, it would not be able to manage the widespread anti-China sentiment.
However, Koo acknowledged that it is just a proposal at present and he has not discussed it with the DPP, which is still looking to come up with a party consensus on China policy after suffering defeat in January’s presidential election.
Koo hopes that his proposal, like Hsieh’s, would catalyze the DPP’s brainstorming and encourage people to be more creative with proposals for the future of cross-strait development.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS