TAIPEI (The China Post) — Supporters of Taiwan independence said on April 28 that they will establish a new political party focusing on Taiwan’s sovereignty as its main agenda with the goal of fielding candidates in the 2020 legislative elections.
The party, named the Sovereign State of Formosa and Pescadores Party, will be chaired by Cheng Tzu-tsai, an architect and dissident who was part of a conspiracy in 1970 to assassinate Chiang Ching-kuo, vice premier and later president of Taiwan.
Cheng said the dispute over Taiwan’s sovereignty status arose from the 1952 Treaty of San Francisco, in which Japan renounced territorial claims to Taiwan (Formosa) and its offshore Penghu islands (the Pescadores) after World War II, without specifying the country to which they had been surrendered.
It was clear that the Republic of China (ROC), which at the time was a representative of the Allied Powers, was not awarded sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu, but rather was allowed administrative rights, Cheng said.
Therefore, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which deems itself the successor state to the ROC, has no legitimate sovereign claim over Taiwan and the Penghu and has no right to assert that Taiwan is part of China, he said.
To help build Taiwan into a sovereign, independent country, the Sovereign State of Formosa and Pescadores Party will be formed and its legislative candidates will help inform the public about the historic facts, Cheng said.
Meanwhile, Liu Che-chia, who has been named as the party’s secretary general, said it will be launched on June 30 and will set its sights on legislator-at-large seats.
The new party will also cooperate with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to field 10 legislative candidates in districts where the DPP is not competing, Liu said.
Cheng, who is now 82, and his brother-in-law Peter Huang were caught after they carried out an assassination attempt on Chiang during a state visit to New York City in 1970.
They pleaded guilty but jumped bail, and Huang was never recaptured. Cheng was apprehended in Sweden and, after lengthy extradition proceedings, was placed on a plane bound for New York.
Shortly after take‐off, however, Cheng lost consciousness, which prompted the pilot to make an unscheduled landing in Britain, where new extradition proceedings were launched. It was not until June 20, 1972, that Cheng returned to New York and was sentenced to five years in prison. He served 22 months and was released at the end of 1974.
Cheng returned to Taiwan in June 1991 to attend his father’s funeral and was imprisoned for one year, starting in November 1992, for illegally entering Taiwan without an entry visa, in violation of the 1987 National Security Law.
