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‘Eventual
unification’ official’s resignation accepted
By Yu Tai-lang and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) on Friday accepted the resignation
of Chou Chieh-min (周傑民), the Hualien County Government’s civil affairs
department director, and apologized for Chou’s “eventual unification” remarks,
which has sparked outrage.
Chou tendered his resignation on Wednesday shortly after his controversial
comments triggered a backlash and Fu consented to it after returning to Hualien
from a meeting with the central government in Taipei, the Hualien County
Government said in a press release on Friday night.
The press release also contained Fu’s apology over the social disturbance caused
by Chou’s “inappropriate rhetoric.”
When seeing off a group of new recruits on Wednesday at the Hualien train
station, Chou said: “It is inevitable that both sides of the Strait will be
unified. Whether you like it or not, history shows the truth of the phrase:
‘long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.’ I am telling you, it is
inevitable that both sides of the Strait will unite.”
“No one knows if cross-strait unification will be a good thing, but at least it
is in our hands to decide, with Taiwan’s best interest at heart, when and how to
unify [with China.] This is what we should strive for and we must have the right
perspective,” added Chou, a former division chief at the Air Force General
Headquarters and a former director at the Armed Forces Reserve Command.
Chou’s remarks prompted public fury, with some taking to the Internet to vent
their indignation and others calling councilors to complain.
“If unification will be the eventual outcome, then why on earth is the
government still enlisting young men for the armed forces?” one netizen wrote.
Another netizen said the government trying to sell out Taiwan is no longer news,
because it is now giving away the country for free.
Hualien county councilors demanded Chou apologize and made a special report
about his remarks at an interim meeting on Friday.
Hualien County Councilor Chuang Chih-tsai (莊枝財) said Chou, as an ex-military
officer, should not have made such comments.
“Besides, the future of Taiwan, whether unification [with China] or formal
independence, should be decided by its 23 million people, not government
officials,” Chuang said.
Hualien County Councilor Ho Li-tai (何禮台) said China’s “united front” tactics had
penetrated so deeply into Taiwanese society that its people must remain united
to avoid falling into China’s traps.
When asked by Ho to elaborate on what he meant by “eventual unification,” Chou
said what he meant was the “unification of China under the Three Principles of
the People” (三民主義統一中國).
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