President Chen Shui-bian attended the first meeting of the 16th Tainan County Compatriot Society in Taipei this afternoon. Besides expressing his gratitude to his fellow Tainan compatriots for the support they have given him, the president also urged them to do the same to back the government's policies so that they become the government's most powerful supporters.
In his speech, President Chen cited Foreign Minister Mark Chen as a most appropriate witness to mirror the country's difficulty in its foreign relations. However, the nation keeps on trying to improve the situation. The president said that if it was not the help from the United States, Japan and the European Union, the People's Republic of China would never have let us become the 144th member of the World Trade Organization on February 1, 2002. The president also mentioned about Taiwan's aspiration of becoming a member of the World Health Organization by filing applications in the past nine years, requesting even not in the name of the country but as a health entity and seeking only an observer status instead of full membership. These efforts have not produced the desired effects. However, we did not give up and with the support given by the United States and Japan in last year's WHA meeting, Taiwan was qualified to be covered under the universal code, making it one step closer to gain WHO membership. The president said that if we persist in our endeavors, we could reach our goal within two years.
The president further emphasized that the people must unite as a group. He also cited the fact that the United States has included Taiwan as part of its international security strategy, and that the United States has also strongly opposed to the lifting of an arms embargo by the European Union. This shows that in the past 16 years, China has never improved its human rights situation and has never stopped its military expansion, threatening not only Taiwan but also the common interest of the international community. On the other hand, Taiwan has been defending itself with democracy, which could be seen and heard by the world, and with international justice, Taiwan will never stand alone. Take the anti-separation Law for example, even faced with opposition from the United States, Japan and Australia, China still went along with this legislation hoping to resolve the Taiwan issue through non-peaceful means under the cover of legal institutions. However, the March 26 rally in which more than one million people came out to defend Taiwan through democracy, has boosted international support for this country.
As a means to ease the pressure from the international community over the passage of the anti-separation law, the president said, China advanced the visits of Taiwan's opposition leaders to the mainland. Regardless of how many points of the agreements that the opposition parties had reached with China, the most important point, which is missing, is that China should have dialogue with the leader of Taiwan's duly elected government as suggested by U.S. President George W. Bush in a telephone conversation with China's President Hu Jintao on May 6. The president emphasized that this is the most important point. This is also why the United States' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated on July 10 that the U.S. government welcomes the Chinese government's dialogue with Taiwan's opposition parties, and adding that it is still not enough since the Chinese government is yet to have dialogue with the Taiwanese government and leaders in order to resolve the cross-strait problem.
The president said that the "China Fever" isn't yet gone. The president expressed his disappointment over the Chinese government's reluctance to have dialogue with the Taiwan government or its commissioned agencies. The president said that it is meaningless that the Chinese authorities got in touch with just civilian groups, leaving out the legal Taiwan government or its commissioned agencies. This is also indicative of the need that Taiwan must take its own path. The president also reminded the public that the exports of Taiwanese agricultural products to China is not just a matter of prices and sales. If China ever uses this as a means of united front strategy to divide Taiwan, we should then be careful because this little benefit could bring the collapse of our government and lead to anarchy. Thus, issues relevant to governmental powers have to be taken care by the government or by parties assigned by the government so that there could be more protection from the systems.
The president also emphasized on the reform's importance and its necessity. Although there is a price to pay for reform, only through continuous reform could there be progress. Taking the past successful example of financial reform, the president said that the farmer association's credit departments not only create fewer problems now, but also are an assurance to the farmers. If the goal of the "2-5-8" financial reform is reached, it could be proved that "where there is a will there is a way." Now the financial reform's second phase is going to be launched, it is difficult, but we have to do it. So it is for tax reform. Although there are complaints, we have to do it for the good of social justice and fairness, for the development of the country, for social welfare, for education and national security. But this is absolutely not a comprehensive increase of taxes to the people. It is only to let the rich pay more tax while at the same time the poor paying less or even exempted from paying any tax. It also aims to raise the tax burden from the present rate of 13.6% to 15% in three years as the current percentage was too low or less than half of the rate in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The president said that the room where the Tainan County compatriots are having lunch is in the Sun Yat-sen Hall, the place where the National Assembly used to hold its meetings. But on June 7 this year, we succeeded in making the name of "National Assembly" a historical noun, which proves that only if we have faith in ourselves could we achieve our goals. Nothing is impossible for the Taiwanese. This is also true about the realization of referendums. Because of it, the president asked his fellow compatriots to support the government, to support reforms and to be the powerful force behind the government.