The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday dismissed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) speech reiterating Beijing’s “one China” principle as “uninnovative” and repetitive, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) urged governments from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to work together to improve relations.
Xi’s talk was “mostly a repetition of his previous remarks and was uninnovative,” DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said.
“By repeatedly claiming Taiwan as a part of its territory, China would only push Taiwanese further away,” Lee added.
Most Taiwanese are unlikely to accept Xi’s proposed “one country, two systems” formula, he said.
“We are a peace-loving and democratic people, and while we do want to engage in exchanges with China, at the very least they should respect our will,” he said.
Since taking office in 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has consistently held out an olive branch to Beijing in the hope of improving cross-strait relations, Lee said.
“However, mutual respect is the most important thing and how is it respectful to be constantly calling the other country part of yours?” he said. “Taiwan must insist that it is a sovereign and independent nation, and China should respect that.”
Xi made it clear that the so-called “1992 consensus” means accepting the “one China” principle, “leaving absolutely no room for ‘each side having its own interpretation,’” he added.
The KMT should “stop using it [the ‘1992 consensus’] to deceive Taiwanese” and “give them false hope,” Lee said.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
As cross-strait relations continue to deteriorate, government leaders on both sides of the Strait are responsible for seeking new space and ways to ameliorate mutual development, KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
“While Mainland China should have less prerequisites [for collaboration], the DPP administration should be more flexible in terms of its ideological stance, so that both can explore more creative solutions,” he said, adding that the standoff can only be resolved by creating positive interactions.
In response to criticism over the KMT’s approach to the “1992 consensus,” he said that the room for interpreting “one China” existed under former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
“The Ma administration adhered to the ‘1992 consensus’ with ‘each side having its own interpretation’ for eight years and it is a fact that cannot be denied,” he said.
New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) called on Xi to talk to Taiwanese political parties in an “open, transparent and equal manner” without having the “one China” principle as a prerequisite.
“Mr Xi can of course talk about his Chinese dream, while we should be able to express why China and Taiwan are two [separate] countries, and what China can learn from Taiwan’s democracy and human rights protection, because that is what would make the conversation truly meaningful,” Huang wrote on Facebook.
Democracy, freedom, protection of human rights and the right to choose how one would like to live are subjects that China cannot avoid in public conversations, he said.
Huang urged Beijing to “earn respect” by following through its promises, adding that it had failed to report the spread of the African swine fever, despite having signed a cross-strait agreement on disease control and prevention in 2009.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) yesterday apologized after the suicide of a civil servant earlier this month and announced that a supervisor accused of workplace bullying would be demoted. On Nov. 4, a 39-year-old information analyst at the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) northern branch, which covers greater Taipei and Keelung, as well as Yilan, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, was found dead in their office. WDA northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, would be demoted to a nonsupervisory position, Ho told a news conference in Taipei. WDA Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said he would
RSS