President William Lai (賴清德) was officially sworn in on Monday, marking the start of a historic third consecutive term of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) government. While urging China to share the responsibility of promoting peace in the Taiwan Strait and the world, Lai has called on Beijing to accept the existence of the Republic of China (ROC) and acknowledge Taiwan’s elected government.
In his inauguration speech, Lai underlined that “we have a nation insofar as we have sovereignty,” and in a rare move, quoted the first chapter of the Constitution, saying: “The sovereignty of the Republic of China shall reside in the whole body of citizen” and “persons possessing the nationality of the Republic of China shall be citizens of the ROC.”
He said the two articles clearly state that “the ROC and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinated to each other.” Lai’s quotation obviously aims to verify the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and uphold the sovereignty of the ROC in Taiwan based on the Constitution.
It also served as evidence to some pro-China politicians such as former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who often mentions the so-called “constitutional one China” framework, which vaguely claims that the ROC and the PRC are both “China,” but has trapped Taiwan’s legal status and international image in the PRC’s “one China principle” and its version of the so-called “1992 consensus” that allows no room for the interpretation of “China” as the ROC.
On Lai’s inauguration day, Beijing issued a statement to reiterate its interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, a response to pushback by some US officials and lawmakers regarding China’s increasing “misuse” of the resolution. While calling for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the World Health Assembly and international community, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Mark Lambert have denounced China’s mischaracterization of UN Resolution 2758 by falsely conflating it with its “one-China principle.”
China’s reaction nevertheless has shone a spotlight on the fact that Resolution 2758 passed in 1971, stated only that “the PRC is the only legitimate government of China.”
The resolution replaced the ROC with the PRC as a permanent member of the Security Council in the UN to solve the issue of China’s representation in the UN system, but not a word referred to Taiwan or its international status.
After Lai’s inauguration, Beijing, unsurprisingly, labeled him a “dangerous separatist” and called his speech “a confession of Taiwanese independence,” then followed this by launching a two-day Joint Sword 2024A military drill around Taiwan yesterday.
Lai did not push for anything new to change or expand the political sovereignty of the ROC in Taiwan, but presented the facts, in accordance with the Constitution, the reality of the situation across the strait and the consensus of the vast majority of Taiwanese.
Being an elected leader of 24 million Taiwanese, Lai also pledged to “neither yield nor provoke,” but seek peace with China, showing goodwill by wanting to resume dialogue to avoid possible conflict.
The PRC should acknowledge the facts and this goodwill, not unilaterally change “the status quo” to upend peace in the Taiwan Strait and the world.
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