A few days short of the presidential election, China muscled its way onto center stage in the Taiwan Strait again yesterday after the close of the National People's Congress, where Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) sent a warning to the voters of Taiwan not to elect the "wrong candidate."
Though it was obvious who was the target of Zhu's comments, all three of the leading presidential candidates reacted, saying the election was a matter for the people of Taiwan to decide.
Speaking with journalists after the NPC wrapped up its annual session in Beijing yesterday, Zhu told voters in Taiwan to think twice when heading to the ballot box on Saturday and not elect a pro-independence candidate.
"Let me advise all these people in Taiwan: do not just act on impulse at this juncture, which will decide the future course that China and Taiwan will follow. Otherwise I'm afraid you won't get another opportunity to regret," Zhu said.
"We believe in the political wisdom of the people of Taiwan, and we trust that our Taiwan compatriots will make the right historical choice," he said.
Taiwan's presidential candidates wholeheartedly disagreed.
"The election is our business because we hold independent sovereign rights here. Other countries should respect the fact of Taiwan's independence and its sovereignty," the KMT's Lien Chan (
DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian's (
"Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country. Taiwan is neither a part of the PRC nor a province of China," Chen said.
Chen argued that there exists a wide gulf between what China wants and what the people of Taiwan would prefer, as China's stance embraces only one solution: "one country, two systems."
This is a choice, Chen said, that Taiwan is unwilling to consider.
"According to China's logic, the only candidate they could accept is Li Ao (
Speaking of himself, Chen said, "A-bian wants to maintain peace too, and I will send Lee Yuan-tseh (
Soong, appearing before a massive crowd at Taipei's CKS Memorial Hall, was more rhetorical. Speaking in English, largely to attract the attention of the foreign press, Soong said: "What do you want? Intimidation?"
"No!" the crowd responded.
"Peace?"
"Yes!"
"Democracy?"
"Yes!" The crowd roared.
"This is the voice of Taiwan," Soong said.
Much like Soong, Chen held a shouting match with supporters on the campaign trail in Kaohsiung County, asking them: "Do you want one country, two systems?" "No!" the crowd shouted back.
However, Zhu's comments appeared to indicate that even the usually moderate premier was finding it difficult to appear anything but hardline on the Taiwan issue, analysts said, conveying the sense that Beijing's patience was running thin.
"If [reunification] is allowed to drag on indefinitely, how can it be possible that we will not use force?" Zhu said in Beijing.
Soong's and Chen's responses were firm, but Lien continued to play on public fear, suggesting the KMT was the only party capable of providing for Taiwan's security.
"Some people here are too naive" to think they could negotiate with China while at the same time being the representative of Taiwan independence supporters, Lien said, referring to Chen.
"China's Premier Zhu just said this afternoon that the path of Taiwan independence would only lead to bloodshed," Lien said.
The KMT has claimed in TV ads that 85 percent of men aged 20-29 would have to go to war if Chen was elected. Lien has also said himself that if Chen is elected, young men would have to trade in their "A-bian" knitted caps for bullet-proof helmets.
Chen has made an effort during the campaign to soften the DPP's stance on formal independence, saying the party has no need to declare independence because Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign nation.
Also See Editorial Inside
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS