President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) recent elaborations on the issue of Taiwan’s statehood, given the complex nature of the legal status of the Republic of China (ROC), was likely “international legal suicide” and a deception of the people of Taiwan, academics said in a forum last week.
Ma appears to have been self-conflicting and inconsistent in his interpretation of the cross-strait framework, Brad Roth, a professor of political science and law at Wayne State University in Michigan, told a forum organized by Taiwan Thinktank.
The president said that the relationship between Taiwan and China “is not one between states, but a special relationship for which the model of recognition under conventional international law is not applicable,” but sought to promote his initiative of “mutual non-recognition of sovereignty and mutual non-denial of authority to govern” under the “one China” framework.
“However, if cross-strait relations are not subject to international law, they could only be internal affairs of the People’s Republic of China’s [PRC],” Roth said.
He added that the Taipei government might be recognized either as representing an undivided China or as representing Taiwan, but there is no third option.
According to Roth, the PRC’s interpretation of “one China” is that Taiwan lacks any international legal protection, and that threats and use of force across the Taiwan Strait represents matters “essentially within the domestic jurisdiction.”
While Ma’s policies has relaxed bilateral tensions, his insistence on the “one China” framework could come at a price — a signal to the international community that Taiwan is no longer in need of its protection against potential PRC predation, he said.
“To return to the idea that Taipei is a contestant government of an undivided China is to commit a kind of international legal suicide,” he said.
Bold moves, such as constitutional reforms that overtly assert Taiwan independence, are not likely to affect the determinants of Taiwan’s legal status, Roth said, adding that it would better suit Taiwan to build on international legal consciousness of its non-subjugation to the PRC.
On Taiwan’s normalization as a state, academics debated on Australian academic James Crawford’s opinion that Taiwan is not a state because it “still has not unequivocally assert its separation from China and is not recognized as a state distinct from China.”
Taiwan New Century Foundation chairman Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志) said he aligned himself with the declaratory theory on the creation of states and added that Taiwan could be an exception because it had evolved through the years.
It was what Chen called an evolution theory, which explained how Taiwan had transformed itself from the Martial Law era to the present as a sovereign and democratic, yet “abnormal” country.
The people of Taiwan’s collective effort as a nation has been a compelling case and a strong testimony to the international community, he said, adding that the bid for UN membership under the name Taiwan in 2007 was a formal declaration of self-determination, a universal right protected by the UN Charter.
Former deputy foreign minister Michael Kau (高英茂) said there are legal and political aspects to Taiwan’s status and statehood, but he felt that eventually political intervention would be needed to settle the matter, citing the cases of Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.
Taiwan’s independence or its normalization as a country is pure political aspiration, which has presented a dilemma while Taiwan has been very careful about not crossing China’s “red line,” Kau said.
The irony is that China is so powerful that the international community might be hesitant to offer Taiwan any support, he said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we