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Chinese president urged to respect Taiwan's sovereignty

ROC Central News Agency

2007-10-15 20:28:54

    Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) A legislative caucus whip of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday to respect Taiwan's sovereign status.

    Legislator Wang Tuoh made the call at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan in response to remarks by Hu concerning the Taiwan issue in his report at the opening of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing earlier in the day.

    Hu, who concurrently heads the CPC, said that Beijing will never waver on its "one China" principles, nor will it give up efforts to seek peaceful unification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

    In his report, Hu also reaffirmed no change in Beijing's principle of "entrusting hope to the Taiwanese people" for the goal of unification and no compromise on Taiwan's separation movements.

    Hu also called for talks to end cross-strait hostility under the "one China" policy.

    In response, Wang said the DPP respects Hu's "one China" overture since there is indeed only one China in the world. Nevertheless, Wang went on, the DPP looks forward to China's reciprocal respect for Taiwan's sovereign status.

    Stressing that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state, Wang said Taiwan has never belonged to the People's Republic of China nor been part of it.

    It is worthy of respect that China has begun to take the idea of "peace" as a means of resolving disputes, Wang said, but cautioned that it is not acceptable to take the ideas of "unification" or "one China" as a prerequisite for efforts to hold cross-strait talks on resolving bilateral disputes.

    If China wants to "entrust its hope to Taiwanese people, " Wang suggested, it should first withdraw the hundreds of missiles it has deployed targeting Taiwan and help Taiwan obtain access to international organizations.

    Meanwhile, Executive Yuan spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey said Taiwan will not talk about "unification" with the Chinese Communist regime. "We will never talk about unification or other things with a regime that suppresses Tibet, kills its own people and supports the military junta of Myanmar, " Shieh said, describing the attitude as "our insistence upon adopting democracy and human rights."

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

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