DPP Newsletter June2011

8/6/2019 DPP Newsletter June2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dpp-newsletter-june2011 1/9

JUNE 2011

PAGE 1

DPP Chair and 2012 Presidential Candidate

Tsai Ing- wen’s Europe visit

DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS

... continued on the next pag e

Tsai Ing-wen visits Europe from

June 6 to 10

DPP Chair and Presidential Can-

didate Tsai Ing-wen visitedEurope on the second week of

June, stopping by the cities of

Berlin and London. Chair Tsai

was accompanied by Shieh Jhy-

wei, former representative of Tai-

wan to Germany; Chen Chi-mai,

executive director of the DPP’s

Policy Department and Bikhim

Hsiao, vice president of the DPP’s

think tank, the New Frontier

Foundation.

The purpose of the visit to

Europe was to understand green

policies adopted by European

governments, especially concern-ing renewable energy. Chair Tsai

has issued the 2025 Nuclear-Free

Homeland Initiative as one of her

campaign platforms for the presi-

dential election.

Prior to the delegation’s depar-

ture, Chair Tsai spoke to the me-

dia at Taoyuan International Air-

port, expressing her confidence

that this visit will promote the ini-

tiatives for a nuclear-free Taiwan.

“Renewable energies will

eventually replace traditional en-

ergy retrieval methods such as

nuclear energy,” Chair Tsai said.“This will serve as great benefit

and a basic policy direction for

the DPP when it returns to office.”

Berlin

On the first leg of the tour on June

6, Chair Tsai visited the Berlin

Central Station, and was given a

tour by a management representa-



JUNE 2011

PAGE 2

... Tsai Ing- wen’s Europe visit

... continued " om the previous pag e

tive of the station. Mr. Alex Fischer, MP of the

CDU party of Germany, also accompanied her

on the train station tour.

During the tour of the Berlin Central Station,

Chair Tsai learned that the station is one of the

newest and largest construction plans by the

German government that utilizes alternative en-

ergy for its operations. The station representa-

tive also explained that in order to fulfill the

country’s energy policy, the German govern-

ment started an initiative to convert more than

5,000 train stations into 100% dependent on so-

lar energy.

Chair Tsai expressed her impressions of the

German government’s plan to adopt green en-

ergy policies, especially in regards to public

spaces. “As long as the government has clear

objectives and is willing to take initiative,

achieving the goal of a nuclear-free environ-

ment is definitely reachable,” she said.

Part of understanding Germany’s renewable

energy projects from the government perspec-

tive, Chair Tsai visited the offices of Germany

Trade and Invest, a government agency that

promotes foreign trade and investment. Chair

Tsai was greeted by Germany Trade and Invest

President Mr. Michael Pfeiffer, who organized a

presentation titled “The Renewable Energies &

Resources Industry in Germany”.

As the report indicated, Germany, as of 2010,generated 17% of electric power for consump-

tion, cutting CO2 emissions by 120 million tons per

year. The alternative energy industry also provided

37.5 billion euros in revenue for Germany.

After the presentation, Chair Tsai indicated that

Taiwan is the world’s second largest manufacturer

of solar energy panels with Germany being one of

its largest exporting markets. She said that 99% of

the panels are exported overseas, but the current

most important issue for Taiwan is to develop its

domestic markets in order to lead Taiwan’s indus-

trial development for the next generation.

During the second day of the Berlin visit, Chair

Tsai met, over a breakfast meeting, with members

of the Taiwan-Germany Parliamentary Friendship

Group led by Mr. Klaus-Peter Willsch, MP (CDU)

and Deputy Speaker of the German Parliament Dr.

Helmann Otto Solms, MP (FDP). Both sides en-

gaged in a discussion on renewable energies as well

as the topics of




JUNE 2011

PAGE 3


cross strait relations, China’s democratization andhuman rights and the influence of China’s rise. Mr.

Willsch, who has played an instrumental role in

strengthening EU-Taiwan relations such as pushing

for the visa-free status for Taiwan, expressed af-

firmation of Germany’s support of Taiwan.

Visiting the German Parliament, Chair Tsai ex-

changed views and engaged in a discussion about

renewable energies with the author of the 2000

German Renewable Energy Legislation, Mr. Hans-

Josef Fell, MP (Green Party). Mr. Fell, who has pushed for the government to offer tariffs in order to

accelerate the development of renewable energy

technologies, said he fully supported Chair Tsai’s

2025 nuclear-free project for Taiwan.

Chair Tsai described to Mr. Fell Taiwan’s situa-

tion on renewable energies. She said that Taiwan

currently relied more than 99% on energy imports.

“It is imperative that we find a solution to this

dilemma,” she said. “Before, Germany had the same

problem, but in the last ten years, the German gov-

ernment has taken the initiative to develop a policyto strengthen renewable energy technologies. For

this reason, Germany today, as the world’s largest,

has 17% of its energy attributed to renewable en-

ergy, and on the contrary, Taiwan only counts with

2%.”

On the last day of her visit to Berlin, Chair Tsai

visited the German Council on Foreign Relations

(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik,

DGAP), which is a non-profit organization special-

ized on Germany’s national foreign policy network.She exchanged views on cross strait relations and

China issues with Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider and

Mr. Otto-Wolff, director of the Research Institute

China-Program.

Overseas Taiwanese living in cities across

Europe came to Berlin to attend an evening recep-

tion organized by overseas supporters on behalf of

Chair Tsai. She spoke to the audience about Tai-

wan’s domestic politics and current news about the

DPP.





JUNE 2011

PAGE 4



London

On the

evening of

June 8,

Chair Tsai

arrived in

London

and was

received by

Taiwanese

supporters

at Lon-

don’s

Heathrow

Airport.

She then

spoke at anauditorium with hundreds of overseas supporters

about Taiwan’s domestic politics and her cam-

paign plans for the upcoming elections.

The next day, Chair Tsai visited her alma ma-

ter, the London School of Economics and Political

Science (LSE), and was received by Dr. Judith

Rees, interim director of LSE and Dr. David Held,

director of the Centre for the Study of Global

Governance within the Government Department

at LSE.In speaking to Dr. Rees and Dr. Held, Chair

Tsai emphasized that democracy is Taiwan’s most

paramount value, becoming the “common lan-

guage” spoken between China and Taiwan. She

also said that in 2012, if returned to office, the

DPP will continue to promote cross strait eco-

nomic relations by promoting a more transparent

dialogue and informing the public of the out-

comes.

Chair Tsai then delivered remarks at a seminar on Taiwan, cross strait relations and the chal-

lenges to democracy at the University of London’s

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Her presentation at SOAS came at the invitation

of Dr. Robert Ash, director of the Centre of Tai-

wan Studies and Dr. Dafydd Fell, senior lecturer

in Taiwan Studies.

In her remarks at the SOAS seminar, Chair Tsai

highlighted:

“The Asian region must have peaceful and sta-

ble cross straits, and maintaining this cross strait

peace and stability is the responsibility of Taiwan

for the rest of the world. In reality, Taiwan is not

facing China alone and cross strait issues are not

limited to just Taiwan and China. Taiwan, as well

as the rest of the countries in Asia and the world,

is facing a rising China and dealing with the influ-

ence China brings in political, economic and secu-

rity terms. For this reason, Taiwan must adopt a

multilateral framework in order to balance theinequalities between Taiwan and China.

“Taiwan and China possess different histories,

especially in the value of democracy. From the

perspectives of the 23 million people in Taiwan,

democracy is the system for the country’s national

foundation, and it serves as the line of defense for

Taiwan. In developing cross strait relations, Tai-

wan must not forsake its democracy.”

In London, Chair Tsai paid a call to the UK




JUNE 2011

PAGE 5



Parliament and met with members of the Taiwan-

UK Parliamentary Friendship Group. She ex-

changed views on Taiwan and cross strait rela-

tions with Lord Faulkner of Worcester, chair of

the friendship group, and Lord Giddens.

Chair Tsai met with members of both the Tai-

wan and UK media. She was interviewed by Ed-

ward Carr from The Economist and Charles Scan-

lon from the BBC. In the televised BBC inter-

view, Chair Tsai spoke about the DPP’s proposed

approach to relations with China and the increas-

ing worry of China’s military rise in the Asian re-

gion.

Mr. Scanlon, who specializes in reporting

Asian affairs for the BBC, asked Chair Tsai the

main question of the interview: “China is cur-

rently building up its naval forces. There are plans

to launch its first aircraft carrier this year, and ten-

sions are building up with other neighboringcountries in the South China Sea. How concerned

are you about China’s growing assertiveness?”

Chair Tsai re-

plied: “You can’t

rule out the possi-

bility that it has be-

come much more

ambitious militarily

and politically than

before, and there-fore, it will create

problems in terms

of its friendship or

relationship with its

neighboring coun-

tries. And in fact,

what I am saying is

that all the possible

conflicts in that area

have to be dealtwith in a peaceful

manner, including the problems that we have with

China.”

Mr. Scanlon then persisted on the question

about China’s military security, “But with this

crackdown on critics in China continues, if China

does take a turn for the more authoritarian rever-

sion to how it was before, that’s going to make it

more difficult for you, for your party to deal with

China, isn’t it?”

Chair Tsai responded, “I am the leader of a

party who struggled for decades in order to reach

this stage of democracy in Taiwan. We understand

fully the importance of a democracy, and we hope

China can have democracy as well. And if there is

a way for us to assist the development in China,

we would be more than happy to do that.”

The full interview can be seen on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FlUY3jnt8s&

feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FlUY3jnt8s&feature=youtu.be






JUNE 2011

PAGE 6

DPP presents Q&A for 2025 Nuclear-Free HomelandInitiative

What is the "2025 Nuclear-Free Homeland Ini-

tiative"?

The "2025 Nuclear-Free Homeland Initiative" aims

to decommission the First, Second and Third Nu-

clear Power Plant in Taiwan and to prevent the

commercial operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power

Plant. Taiwan will be able to reach its goal of obvi-ating the need for nuclear energy by using other

alternative energy sources, improving the power

generation efficiency, energy conservation, indus-

trial restructuring, and the liberalization of the

electricity industry.

Why 2025?

It’s difficult to give up nuclear energy immediately

since it requires the consensus of the whole soci-

ety. 2025 is the deadline for decommissioning theThird Nuclear Power Plant, but Taiwan has to

strive to change the power structure so as to stop

using nuclear power by 2025.

How could Taiwan replace nuclear power?

(A) Increase the proportion of renewable energy:

the DPP’s initiative calls for increasing renew-

able energy by about 6.5% of total electricity

generation by 2025.

(B) Improve the efficiency of thermal power: Inaddition to increasing power generation effi-

ciency, invest in thermal power plants in order

to reduce the amount of carbon emissions.

(C) Construction of natural gas power plants as

priority because natural gas is a cleaner energy,

and future power plants should give priority to

using natural gas.

What are other methods to reduce power

consumption in the long-term?

(A) Energy Conservation: the Government can

encourage people to use energy-saving prod-

ucts.

(B) Adjust industrial structure: instead of just

focusing on economic growth, we should en-

courage green policies among energy-intensive

industries.

(C) Liberalization of the electricity industry: the

government should liberalize the electricity

market, which not only alters the issue of Tai-

Power’s monopoly, but it also encourages the

development of the renewable energy industry

Why should Taiwan completely give up using

nuclear power?

Of all the world's 564 nuclear power plants in op-

eration, six of them have experienced accidents,

and the probability of more accidents is approxi-

mately more than 1%.

Japan and Taiwan are both in earthquake-prone

areas. For this reason, what happened in Fu-kushima may also occur in Taiwan.

If a severe damage happens in one of the three

nuclear power plants near Taipei, tens of millions

of people will have to be evacuated, which is a

plan that cannot be implemented. Also, it may

result in the paralysis of state capital. The cost of

shutting down the government and rebuilding the

damaged area and the risk of trade and economic

loss is too high a price to pay for Taiwan.



JUNE 2011

PAGE 7

DPP Chair and 2012 Presidential Candidate

Tsai Ing- wen delivers speech at Liberal International’s

57th Congress in Manila

On June 19, DPP Chair and Presidential Candidate

Tsai Ing-wen gave a speech at the 57th Congress of

the Liberal International in Manila. Liberal Interna-

tional is a global organization of political parties,

which aims to promote the advancement of free-

dom, equality, human rights, free trade, tolerance,

social justice and the rule of law around the world.

The ‘Human Rights & Trade’-themed 57th Con-

gress in Manila saw a host of inspiring speeches

from political leaders all over the world, including

Moses Mzila Ndlovu MP (Zimbabwe), Otto Gue-

vara Guth (Costa Rica), Louis Michel (MEP), and

Sam Rainsy (Cambodia).

In her speech, Tsai Ing-wen emphasized the

DPP’s “proactive” role in “promoting a liberal and

democratic global agenda through Liberal Interna-

tional” and to “help strengthen the network’s pres-

ence in Asia…, with a particular emphasis on hu-

man rights.”

Tsai also talked about the historical importance

of Taiwan and Philippine democracy in demonstrat-

ing to the world that “contrary to the claims of a

few Asian leaders…, Asians are perfectly capable

of building systems and institutions of democ-

racy…” However, Tsai also noted the difficulties

faced by Asian democracy activists and freedom

fighters such as Sam Rainsy, Chee Soon Juan (Sin-

gapore), as well as those struggling for democracy

in Burma.Tsai Ing-wen devoted a large part of her

speech to the challenges that come with the rise of




JUNE 2011

PAGE 8

...Tsai Ing- wen delivers speech at Liberal International’s57th Congress in Manila

China. Tsai stated that “all too often, in the currentstate of the global political economy, economic

leverage is applied to silence critics on human

rights; economic strength is also utilized as a base

for expanding political and military influence.”

Tsai said that the debate concerning the way in

which the international community should deal

with China centers around two views. The first

approach advocates engagement with China, so-

cializing China into abiding with “international

rules, norms, and standards of behavior”. Thesecond more pessimistic view is that China will

continue to lib-

eralize eco-

nomically, but

that it will re-

main an

authoritarian

state that will

“attempt to

develop an al-ternative world

order”. Those

who subscribe

to the second

view argue “a

balance-of-

power strategy

is needed to

contain such a scenario.” Tsai emphasized that the

DPP advocates a combination of these two strate-

gies. She stated: “integration generates opportuni-

ties for business and travel, and it will give more

and more Chinese people a chance to witness and

experience alternative political systems. At the

same time, we must balance and hedge against

risks, managing the relationship in a way that

would safeguard our values and interests”.

Tsai Ing-wen emphasized that even though it

is necessary to engage with China through multi-

lateral frameworks in order to offset China’s

growing leverage and influence, Taiwan must also

be “vigilant in guarding our most cherished val-ues, mainly democracy and human rights.” Tsai

stressed that China and Taiwan have evolved into

very different societies and political systems, and

that the DPP is “particularly committed to pre-

serving the free choice of the Taiwanese people to

determine their own future”. However, the DPP

also recognizes the existence of “commonalities

and shared interests” and the need for “joint pur-

suit of peaceful development”. As such, the DPP

is committed to establish a “peaceful and stablemechanism for interacting with China without

compromising our

values.” Tsai further

stated that the DPP’s

doors are open to

“Chinese visitors

who are sincerely

interested in under-

standing the DPP”.

Such exchangeswould hopefully

“minimize the

chances of miscalcu-

lations”, and also

“help the Chinese

people and govern-

ment better under-

stand the functioning

of the democratic system that we have worked so

hard to build”.

Concerning the Taiwanese legislative and

presidential elections in January 2012, Tsai Ing-

wen acknowledged that the DPP has experienced

a “difficult three years”, but that the party also has

a “collective desire for our country to move for-

ward.” Tsai further stated that “we must build on

past achievements, but we must also constantly

reflect and renew, so that we can enhance our

competence and refine our capacity to govern, and

hopefully we will win back the mandate next

year.”



JUNE 2011

PAGE 9

DPP: judiciary must use consistent standards to evaluate special funds case

DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS

PUBLISHED BY:

Department of International Aff airs DemocraticProgressive Party

9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping EastRoad, Taipei, Taiwan

Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306

Fax: 886-2-2393-0342

Email: [email protected]

Website:

http://www.dpp.org.tw

DIRECTOR:

Bikhim Hsiao

DEPUTY DIRECTOR:

Hsieh Huai-hui

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Michael J. Fonte

EDITOR:

Ping -Ya Hsu

In regards to the indictment of Former President Lee Teng-hui,

DPP Spokesperson Chen Chi-mai made comments to the press

on June 30, saying that Taiwan’s judicial system must stay con-

sistent. He emphasized that the KMT governed Taiwan for 50

years, and the judicial system must keep a consistent standard

when evaluating cases concerning the confidential funds for

special projects on national security.

“Judicial impartiality and independence must be taken very

seriously,” Chen said. “The DPP does not wish to see people being influenced by judicial cases right before the presidential

elections, therefore, we appeal prosecutors and the judiciary to

remain neutral and independent.”

When asked by the media whether next year’s presidential

elections will receive a large influence from the indictment of

Former President Lee Teng-hui, Chen responded that this case

is still under development, and it is impossible to assess right

now the influence on election sentiment. However, he asserted

that if judicial fairness and independence is sacrificed, leading

people to respond by votes, this would cause a judicial tragedy

for Taiwan.

http://www.dpp.org.tw/

http://www.dpp.org.tw/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

DPP Newsletter June2011