Local think tanks consider forum on 'defending Taiwan'

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Monday, Aug 11, 2008, Page 3  

Some 10 think tanks are considering establishing a "forum on defending Taiwan" in response to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s policy on opening up Taiwan to China, a think tank member said yesterday.

Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), chairman of the National Prospect Foundation, said that the KMT administration had been “fawning on” China since it assumed office on May 20, while disregarding Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The KMT government’s policies could put Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk, creating the impression that “Taiwan belongs to China,” he said.

He criticized the KMT administration’s policies on commencing direct weekend cross-strait charter flights and allowing semiconductor firms to set up advanced 12-inch wafer factories in China, saying that these policies would only boost China’s economy instead of Taiwan’s.

He urged the public to “wake up” to the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has been cooperating with the KMT government to “annex Taiwan.”

Shih said the Contemporary Academic Research Foundation, the Taiwan New Century Foundation, Taiwan Heart — established by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), the Taiwan International Studies Association, the Taiwan Strategy Studies Association and Shih’s foundation decided to establish the forum to prevent the erosion of Taiwan’s international status and stop Taiwan’s isolation.

The think tanks are to discuss details of the forum this afternoon, he said.
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