To Members and Friends
One China Committee Update 26
April 2009
New Members Since last Update
Dr. Gertrude Koh (IL), Professor, Dominican UniversityReunification Conference on August 8, 2009
Conference on Reunification
The John Marshall Law SchoolCentral Theme; One China, One Dream: Establishing mutual trust, setting aside arguments, seeking common grounds yet respecting differences, achieving with joint effort one China.
PROGRAMHu's Six Points forum held on January 10
On December 31, 2008, President Hu Jintao of the Peoples Republic of China and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, delivered a speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan. The message was first issued by the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) on January 1, 1979, which marked the Communist party's abandonment of its pledge for the armed liberation of Taiwan to the islands peaceful liberation. Hu mentioned six points to seek reunification.
The 'six-points' outlined in Hu's speech are: (1) firm adherence to the 'one China' principle; (2) strengthening commercial ties, including negotiating an economic cooperation agreement; (3) promoting personnel exchanges; (4) stressing common cultural links between the two sides; (5) allowing Taiwan's 'reasonable' participation in global organizations and (6) negotiating a peace agreement.
The One China Committee, Association for the promotion of Peaceful Reunification, and other organizations jointly sponsored a forum on Hu's Six Points message at the Chicago Chinatown Chicago Public Library on Saturday, January 10
Taiwan status tested in court
Dr. Roger Lin's legal action against the United States of America on Taiwan's status is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Two lengthy Briefs were filed on November 3 and December 17, 2008.
This lawsuit merely seeks declarations which require the examination of Appellants' "status resulting from prior action." Relevant excerpts from these two Briefs are available at http://www.taiwanbasic.com/insular/lin.htm
Oral Arguments are now scheduled for Feb. 5, 2009 in Washington D.C., and will focus on the central question at issue in this appeal: whether the political question doctrine bars the District Court from determining Appellant's legal rights under United States statutes and the Constitution as a result of the undisputable fact that under Article 23(a) of the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) of April 28, 1952, the United States is "the principal occupying Power" of Taiwan, over which Japan renounced "all right, title and claim" in Article 2(b).
A Summary of the fundamental legal rationale for the court case, and the Relief Requested, is given here -- http://www.taiwanbasic.com/civil/tcourt.htm
Additional background information on the case, informative links, and downloads of the complete versions of the two Briefs are available at -- http://www.civil-taiwan.org/usca.htm
Taiwan-China ties don't threaten U.S.
Rapidly growing ties between China and Taiwan are very much in the interest of the United States and do not undercut the American strategic posture in the western Pacific, Chairman Raymond Burghardt of the American Institute in Taiwan said Wednesday, March 18.
Burghardt's visit to Taiwan -- his sixth since taking over the AIT chairmanship -- comes as Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou moves forward with his cornerstone platform of improving relations with China, from which the island split amid civil war in 1949.
Burghardt said that the United States was very heartened by the new atmospherics across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait, calling it something that made Washington "comfortable." This era of cross-strait stability is very favorable to U.S. interests," he said. (Source: AP, Mar 18, 2009).
Survey: Most Taiwanese feel cross-strait relations moving at moderate pace
An opinion poll released Thursday on Taiwan people's attitude toward Taiwan and mainland relations showed most Taiwanese thought the two sides were developing relations at a moderate pace.
The percentage of Taiwanese respondents who were comfortable with the pace was 47.5 percent. Fourteen and-a half percent thought the development was "too slow", and 37.2 percent thought "too fast", according to the survey released by Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.
The survey also showed that 57.9 percent respondents had confidence in Taiwan authority's ability to maintain the peaceful and stable cross-strait relations. (Source: Xinhua, chinaview.cn, Mar 12, 2009).