Sun, Jan 02, 2022 page1

• Tsai exhorts China against use of force

  ‘NOT AN OPTION’: Taiwan would not bow to Chinese pressure, the president said, while urging Beijing not to let itself be taken hostage by ‘military adventurism’

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called on China to renounce the use of force against Taiwan to resolve cross-strait differences, saying a military confrontation would severely affect the economies and people of both sides.

  Taiwan and China face challenges economically amid the COVID-19 pandemic and both governments are responsible for the welfare of their respective citizens, Tsai said in her New Year address from the Presidential Office in Taipei.

  Taipei has called on Beijing to stop its military and diplomatic coercion, as such actions are detrimental to maintaining regional peace and stability, she said.

  

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, holding a microphone, leads a group of medical workers in waving national flags after singing the national anthem at yesterday’s New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.

  Photo: CNA

  She reaffirmed that Taiwan would not bow to Chinese pressure, while urging Beijing not to misjudge the situation nor allow itself to be taken hostage by “military adventurism.”

  “The use of military means is absolutely not an option to resolve the differences between our two sides,” she said.

  “Only by upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, with each side working to take care of people’s livelihoods and put their minds at ease, can there be proper space and atmosphere for our two sides to peacefully and collectively address and seek solutions to the problems we face. Only in this way can we reduce regional tensions,” she added.

  

  President Tsai Ing-wen, right, delivers her New Year’s address as Vice President William Lai looks on at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

  “Continuing our global engagement, maintaining our economic momentum, strengthening our social security network and safeguarding our nation’s sovereignty are the four pillars of our plan for stable governance in 2022,” Tsai said.

  Taiwan has over the past year faced ups and downs due to domestic COVID-19 cases, she said, adding that Taiwan also went through a heated debate over four referendums, all of which failed to pass.

  This shows the high quality of Taiwanese and how the nation can resolve differences via democratic mechanisms and stay united, she said.

  The referendum results show Taiwan’s resolve to be open to the world, as well as its hope to deepen trade ties with the US, paving the way for a bilateral free-trade agreement with Washington, Tsai said.

  The government would continue to rally support among members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to bolster its bid to join the trade bloc, she said.

  It would also seek to improve exchanges with the EU with a new project to boost supply chain cooperation, she added.

  Tsai said Taiwan would continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong.

  “The pursuit of democracy and freedom is not a crime, and Taiwan’s position in support of Hong Kong will not change. Aside from showing our concern, we will cherish our own hard-earned freedom and democracy even more deeply,” she said.

  Tsai delivered her address after attending a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building.

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, led the singing of the Republic of China national anthem at the ceremony, along with a group of 60 medical care workers, including doctors, nurses and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

  The ceremony aimed to honor the country’s medical workers, who have been working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the organizers said.

  Separately, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) yesterday attributed cross-strait tensions to “the Democratic Progressive Party administration’s refusal to recognize the 1992 consensus,” adding that Tsai’s four pillars “conceal the evil intent of separatism.”

  Beijing wishes that “compatriots from across the Strait would join hands in opposing the adventurism of Taiwanese independence and manipulation by external forces, and would [support the] maintenance of cross-Strait peace and the completion of the total unification of the fatherland,” she added.

  The so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

  Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
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