Beijing should learn from the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and realize that brute force has severe consequences, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
Beijing should renounce the use of coercive means against Taiwan and respect the insistence of Taiwanese on sovereignty and dignity to lessen the distance between autocracies and democracies, and foster mutual trust, the MAC said in a statement issued ahead of the 34th anniversary of the massacre in China.
On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government ordered its military into Tiananmen Square, Beijing, to forcibly end weeks of student-led demonstrations.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Estimated deaths from the crackdown vary from several hundred to several thousand, but China has never released an official death toll.
Beijing is still unable to “face its historical past” regarding the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the MAC said, urging it to face its “historical errors,” make public all records of the incident and enact reforms to safeguard the rights to free speech, religion and assembly.
Peace is the “only option” to resolve cross-strait issues, and maintaining the “status quo” is the greatest common denominator, as well as a shared responsibility for both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it said.
A MAC-commissioned poll released on Thursday showed that 84.2 percent of respondents in Taiwan supported President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) stance on cross-strait affairs, including her statement that “it is the mutual responsibility of both sides of the Strait, as well as a global consensus that the Taiwan Strait problem be resolved peacefully.”
The poll showed that 91.7 percent of respondents were opposed to China’s military posturing, economic bullying and swaying Taiwanese diplomatic allies from Taiwan, while 90.4 percent were opposed to China’s efforts to divide Taiwan through its “united front” rhetoric.
As for the government’s gradual resumption of cross-strait ties, 84.2 percent of respondents were in support, and 87.2 percent agreed that the governments on both sides of the Strait should authorize negotiations between agencies before their borders are fully reopened to each other, the poll showed.
The poll showed that 85.3 percent of respondents supported stricter government regulations and the prevention of Chinese “united front” rhetoric, while 76.5 percent supported stepping up border controls for Chinese entering Taiwan.
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Real Survey Co on May 25 through Sunday last week, polled people aged 20 or older by telephone. It collected 1,077 valid samples, claiming a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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