Lawmakers from all political parties should support a proposed motion that would clarify UN Resolution 2758, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators told a news conference yesterday, but opposition party members later walked out of a cross-party meeting when the topic was raised.
DPP legislators Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Michelle Lin (林楚茵), Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that the news conference was held to “oppose China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 and call on all political parties to speak up for Taiwan.”
UN Resolution 2758 does not have anything to do with Taiwan’s sovereignty and international status, and Taiwan rejects China’s attempts to distort the truth, they said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The US House of Representatives in July last year passed the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which affirms that UN Resolution 2758 does not refer to Taiwan, a sentiment echoed in July by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China’s own resolution.
More recently, the Australian Senate and the Dutch House of Representatives also passed motions clarifying the definition of UN Resolution 2758.
Now is the time for Taiwan to unite and make its voice heard by the international community, Chiu said.
UN Resolution 2758 should no longer block Taiwan from international participation, she said.
The motions in Australia and the Netherlands reflect Taiwan’s growing support abroad, Su said.
UN Resolution 2758 directly affects issues such as encroachment of Chinese fishing vessels into Taiwan’s waters and the M503 flight route, Su said.
Clarifying Taiwan’s international status would allow for it to join international organizations, she said.
The international movement to clarify Resolution 2758, as well as the recent transit of a German ship through the Taiwan Strait, show that Taiwan is important to the world, Lin said.
Now is the time for solidarity, Lin said, adding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) should give up their alignment with Beijing’s position and give Taiwan back to Taiwanese.
The lack of clarity regarding Resolution 2758 lies at the heart of an international legal battle between China and the world, Shen said.
As China continues to expand its jurisdiction, Taiwan must know how to respond to the country’s legal challenges.
After the news conference, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) convened talks on the new legislative session.
During the meeting, the DPP caucus proposed a joint statement from all parties, but Han and other KMT legislators, as well as those from the TPP, walked out of the meeting.
“I had to fight back tears; this is the reality of Taiwan’s situation,” DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said, describing the feeling of reading the proposed statement to a room without opposition lawmakers in attendance.
The KMT and the TPP are disregarding what is best for Taiwan, Wu said.
The DPP will appeal to the public to ensure that the international community hears the true voice of the people, she said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS