The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said its cross-strait policy would focus on demonstrating that Taiwan and China are two separate nations, while amending laws according to the cross-strait factual “status quo.”
“Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu [洪秀柱] earlier proposed her ‘one China, same interpretation’ model, while President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] insists on ‘one China, with each side having its own interpretation,’ and KMT Chairman Eric Chu [朱立倫] said that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait both belong to ‘one China,’” NPP Acting President Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) told a news conference.
“Although their ideas might be slightly different, all sit under the framework of ‘one China,’ which is against the principles of national sovereignty and constitutional democracy, because Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to the 23 million people of Taiwan, not to anyone in China,” he added.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Huang acknowledged that constitutional amendments define Taiwan as the free area of the Republic of China (ROC) and China as the mainland area of the ROC.
However, “it is clear that our sovereignty and jurisdiction do not cover the People’s Republic of China [PRC], so Taiwan and China are in a nation-to-nation relationship,” he added.
Justin Wu (吳崢), the chief executive director of NPP legislative candidate Freddy Lim’s (林昶佐) campaign office, said that the transition must begin with changing the Constitution.
“No one believes in the Constitution; it is outdated and full of defects, and is more like a fairy tale, because it denies the existence of the PRC, saying that it is the ‘mainland area’ of the ROC,” Wu said. “It is just so far from the facts.”
The 25-year-old political activist said that since birth, he and his colleagues have known their nation only as Taiwan, so China for them is just another foreign country.
Therefore, it is crucial to amend the Constitution to be in accordance with the facts, he said.
Reporters asked whether Huang would join the legislative race by running for district representation or as an at-large legislator in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Huang said that since he said last month that he would not run for the constituency in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), he has not had any new thoughts about running.
When pressed on whether he would join the DPP as an at-large legislator, Huang said: “Impossible.”
“As an NPP member, I would maintain a competitive yet cooperative relationship with the DPP; we would strive to be the second-largest Taiwan-centric political party, with the goal to smash the KMT,” Huang said. “Therefore, it is impossible for me to join the DPP as an at-large legislator.”
The question stemmed from a call by the Taiwan Society North advocacy group urging members of all smaller pro-independence parties to join the DPP to endeavor for at-large seats.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS