PICKING TERMS:‘Cross-strait,’ ‘Taiwan and China,’ and ‘our nation and the People’s Republic of China’ were used to describe the nation’s ties to China in draft bills
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 05, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Proposed supervisory regulations governing negotiations with China should
Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang, center, speaks into a microphone at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, outlining three principles for a proposed cross-strait agreement oversight bill. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
not include any language downplaying national sovereignty, civic campaigners said yesterday in a protest outside the Legislative Yuan.
“From the first character to the last, there should not be any expressions like ‘area’ or anything else that could create the misunderstanding that Taiwan belongs to China,” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, adding that his group would reject any version that used loaded words — such as “the mainland” (大陸) — that suggest Taiwan does not already possess full sovereignty.
Sovereignty-related wording differences have been in the spotlight as competing versions of regulations have been referred to the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee for review.
While the Executive Yuan version supported by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) uses “the Taiwan area” to refer to the nation, individual legislators have proposed using “Taiwan,” with pan-green camp political parties seeking to split the difference. [FULL STORY]
