http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33322-2004Mar29_3.html
(這個連結將於十四天後失效)
Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian
For example, people in Taiwan nowadays can freely elect, directly elect the
leader of this country, their president. But it is unthinkable for people in
Hong Kong to elect directly their chief executive.
Let me give you another example. On March 20, the people of Taiwan enjoyed
for the first time in history, and exercised, the right to referendum.
However, people in Hong Kong are deprived of this universal right, this basic
human right.
Right now, the people of Hong Kong are fighting for direct elections for
their chief executive and general elections for the entire legislature, but
the Beijing authorities are unable to consent. They even say, "Wait another
30 years and we'll see." I think this is very ridiculous. They even said to
the Hong Kong people, "You have to understand that in the so-called 'one
country, two systems' formula, the emphasis is not on 'two systems' but on
'one country.' " So even though the Beijing authorities promised not to
change anything for 50 years, it is very clear that even within five years,
a lot of things have changed. For the 23 million people of Taiwan, this is
the greatest warning, and also the clearest signal. "One country, two
systems" is totally unattractive to the Taiwan people. What has happened in
Hong Kong has shown that this system, this formula, is a total failure, which
is unacceptable to us.
So maybe we can put it this way: The failure of "one country, two systems" in
Hong Kong has contributed to the rise of Taiwan identity and the rise of
Taiwan awareness. That is why I was given the privilege of being elected in
2000 and reelected for a second term this year.
Q: You have pointed out that China has been steadily increasing its military
capabilities. What do you intend to do to reduce that threat from China? Do
you think Taiwan can keep up financially in an arms race with China?
A: We will certainly not engage in an arms race with China. What we want is
to avoid war and to achieve permanent peace in the Taiwan Strait. That is why
I have emphasized again and again that it is of crucial importance for my
second term to establish a peace and stability framework for cross-strait
interactions and to maintain stability across the strait.
In the face of a military build-up and an expansion of military expenditure
and continuance of deployment of missiles from China, we are of course not
happy to see such a development, but our major concern is to avoid war and
avoid the military balance across the straits to tilt to China's favor.
Therefore, we have worked strenuously to strengthen our military capabilities
and to expand and increase our defense capabilities and our principle and our
goal is to have effective counter-strike capabilities and to have built a
solid defense to protect peace and maintain the status quo.
I think democracy, and by insisting on having a democratic Taiwan, are the
greatest defense and the best arms that we have in the face of China's
military threat. I think democracy is our best TMD in the face of China's
military threat. TMD meaning theater missile defense.
Q: To follow up, do you feel that Taiwan needs an offensive capability to
meet the threat from China?
A: It is certainly not our strategic goal to engage in an arms race with
China. I am personally not in favor of this, and I see no necessity for it
and I think it is impossible. As I have said, solidifying and deepening
Taiwan's democracy is our best TMD. As I have said, our goal is to avoid war,
to seek peace and to deepen our democracy. Therefore, it is very important
that we maintain an effective capability to defend ourselves, and it is
important that we strengthen our effective counter-strike capability and also
a solid defense. Therefore, we are not in favor of strengthening our
offensive capabilities, instead we are in favor of strengthening our
counter-strike capabilities and making it very effective. Only by effectively
implementing our and strengthening our capability for effective
counter-strike and solid defense can we ensure the fruits of our hard-won
democracy.
Q: President Chen, you campaigned very hard to pass the referendum this
month, and you said if it failed it would be a victory for China. What lesson
do you take from this vote, and do you think you may have gone too far? And
do you anticipate trying again to pass a referendum?
A: If we look at this peace referendum from a broader perspective, it is our
first time in history to hold a referendum and the first step has been smooth
and we can say that in certain regard it shouldn't be seen as a failure.
Because we had more than 7.4 million people cast their ballots in this peace
referendum, much more than the 6.47 million votes that I garnered. So I think
in this regard it is rather a success than a failure. The reason why this
referendum did not pass is that there is a high threshold for its validation,
namely more than 50 percent of the eligible voters need to cast their vote in
this referendum in order to have it pass. I think if we had adopted the
presidential election system to apply to this referendum, the result of this
referendum would be valid. Those who have cast their votes in this referendum
far outnumber the votes I garnered in this presidential election, and
moreover those who have voted in favor of the two items in this referendum
outnumber the votes that I have garnered. Namely, there are many more people
than those people who voted for me who are in support of this referendum and
who are supportive of the two items listed in this referendum.
So if we look at the substantive content of the outcome of this referendum
vote, then it will be more significant than just looking at whether it passed
the nominal threshold or not. And moreover, back in February, in our
legislature, we had bipartisan support in passing a resolution in support of
the two issues listed in the referendum. The reason why there were disputes
and questions over the referendum mainly come from sabotage of opposition
parties and also this intimidation from China and also the fact that during
the election process, the voting process, the voters received the ballots
separately. They cast a presidential ballot first, and then received the
referendum ballot, and cast the referendum ballot, so such an arrangement
might have been confusing for some people and they forgot to cast their
referendum ballots.
It was the first time ever in Taiwan's history to have a referendum, so the
whole world was watching, and we are pleased to see a smooth completion of
the entire process from the casting of the ballots of the referendum to the
counting of the votes of the referendum, and we understand that this time
this issue of the referendum may have been overly politicized, where some
people have interpreted this referendum according to different ideologies.
However, we believe that in the future, when we hold other referendums, such
problems would not arise again, and no one would attempt to sabotage this
referendum, and I am still very proud to say that it is quite an honor and
success for Taiwan to hold this first referendum in our history.
Q: Mr. President, on the question of elections, you were elected by a very
narrow margin. Your opponents have accused you of election fraud or even
staging the shooting on Friday. Taiwanese society seems very divided. How do
you plan to address these opponents and criticisms, and heal the
differences?
A: I can fully understand their feelings and sentiments because it is not
easy to accept your own failure, and I have personally experienced election
defeat twice before. I understand the opposition parties -- the pan-blue
alliance -- were fully confident in winning this election because the two
presidential candidates from four years ago decided to cooperate and they
thought by cooperation they would garner enough votes to be elected as
president and vice president. However, the result is not what they had
expected and it is only normal for them to have such strong sentiments and
find it difficult to accept their defeat. We have certainly not rigged the
vote nor have we staged this assassination attempt. However, we shall wait
until the judicial investigation has reached a final result and it is
publicized. Now the March 20 election is over. We cannot afford to freeze our
time on the day of March 20 or freeze our time before the election. We must
look forward and move forward, and the election has come to an end. We must
accept the result of a democratic election. Even if you just win by one vote,
you still win. And even if you lose by one vote, you still lose, and
everybody must accept such a result.
For me personally, I have just completed the last election of my lifetime.
The day before the election, I trod the fine line of death. And that had a
great impact on my life philosophy and my attitude toward my political
career. I will not be knocked down or defeated so easily. Even if I
personally will be knocked down, I think the 23 million people of Taiwan will
never be defeated in their conviction in the pursuit of democracy and
freedom. Our solidarity, our collective will can never be defeated. The
strength of an individual, my own strength, may be like a branch of a tree
that may be easily bent or broken easily; however the power of the people is
as strong as a forest and it could never be bent so easily. When we conduct
this election, whoever wins or loses, should not lose Taiwan. This time I won
the election. Even if I won the election, if I lose Taiwan, I wouldn't be
happy to see the result. And for the party who lost the election, they should
be careful not to lose Taiwan. I believe the noises and dispute will soon be
over and settled after the election, because we have great confidence in
Taiwan's democracy and the people of Taiwan. I have laid a calligraphy in my
office that also serves as my motto: "Compassion has no enemy and wisdom has
no trouble or worry." I know that it is impossible for me to obtain the
highest wisdom; however, I hope and I will bear in mind that in the next four
years I will make sure I have no enemy in my heart.
Q: President Chen, you mentioned the new constitution, I wonder if you could
tell us how the new constitution would define the territory of the Republic
of China. And also you talked about the rising vote [for you] from 39 percent
to 50 percent. Do you see that as a mandate, and what is it a mandate for, in
relation to mainland China?
A: Firstly, I have said before that in our future efforts in re-engineering
the constitution, we will only do so based upon the principle of maintaining
the status quo and not changing the status quo. I believe those articles
relating to the territory in our constitution will not be the core of
emphasis in our constitutional reform project. I think there is no problem
with the content of Article 4 in our constitution. The question lies in how
to define it, and interpret it.
In this election, we have garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, compared
with 39.3 percent four years ago. Even though we have just won by a slim
margin, I think it does bear some significance. It is significant that within
such a short time span of four years, the people who support me have
increased by 1.5 million votes, and I think such a change in trend should be
taken very seriously by the Beijing authorities as well as by the
international community. It was rightly pointed out by one of the media
reports before the election that they have observed a very clear trend in the
rise of Taiwan identity and Taiwan awareness, and I think this should never
be taken lightly. The reason why we won this election is because we have
chosen to stand with the mainstream values of the people and we have chosen
to stand on the right side of history. And I think this election is a choice
between love and hatred. On Feb. 28, the hand-in-hand rally demonstrated that
our love for this land and also for other people. The Feb. 28 hand-in-hand
rally aimed to unite Taiwan and the people of Taiwan. Quite on the contrary,
the March 13 rally staged by the pan-blue alliance was a rally of hatred
aimed at dividing Taiwan and dividing the people of Taiwan. They have created
conflict and generated much anger and that's why at this election they have
become the minority. I think this trend and phenomenon should be taken very
seriously and is worth observing. However, we will not be over-satisfied with
the election results. We will remain humble and continue our reflection and
self-examination because we want to do better and do more for our people.
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