Letter: Abolition of NUC a big deal

I am writing in response to a story by Ko Shu-ling ("Abolition of NUC no big deal: experts," Feb. 26, page 3).

I am an American expat living in Taiwan. I haven't been here long, and I certainly haven't dabbled much in Taiwanese politics, but after reading this article the truth behind the abolition of the NUC is very clear to me. It is purely a self-serving political move by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Members of the Democratic Progressive Party make it easy for everyone to reach this conclusion. For example, Senior Adviser to the President Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) refers to the NUC guidelines as "a dead document and something that was long forgotten and not functional." Another senior adviser, Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), states: "[The NUC guidelines] are like the sign of a shop that is no longer in business and should be abandoned as soon as possible." The guidelines sound useless, right?

But yet, at the end of your article, yet another senior adviser, Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), paints another picture by saying that dumping the guidelines "removes the shackles from the people and returns sovereignty to them." He continues by stating that the abolition of the NUC guidelines "would have a significant impact on the country's future." Those are strong words for a document that is supposedly antiquated.

At the beginning of your article you state that "many people feel that critics [of the abolition] have overreacted." After reading this article, I don't think they've shouted loud enough.

Michele Beachler

Hsinchu County