When Taiwan started its transition to democracy, voices called for the democratic system to be completed by drawing up a referendum law. Thanks to the efforts of late Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), among others, this demand gained a lot of support.
In response, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) attitude could be described as: “If you want a referendum law — fine, we will give you one.”
However, shamefully, what people got in 2003 was a worthless piece of paper that was called the Referendum Act (公民投票法), but which actually made it impossible to hold a referendum.
Having gained full control of the government and legislature in 2016, the DPP drew up amendment proposals to make the Referendum Act more reasonable and normal, and they gave this bill priority for legislation.
After vacillating for more than a year, the legislature finally passed the amendments into law two weeks ago, removing the unreasonable thresholds, conditions and procedures, and making it possible to hold real referendums.
While many people breathed a sigh of relief, they might not have noticed that the amended act still has a major “forbidden zone” that is off-limits to citizens’ referendum rights.
Taiwan has still not become a “normal” country in its domestic policy or its international relations. The root cause of its abnormal status is the Constitution of the Republic of China, which was written in a rush in 1947 and continued to be enforced in Taiwan after the KMT moved its government from China to Taiwan in 1949.
The Constitution treats Taiwan as a province of a China that also includes mainland China, Mongolia and Tibet, even though Mongolia was de facto independent long before the Constitution was written and has been a member of the UN since 1961. This fantasy came to be the biggest and most fundamental obstacle in the way of Taiwan’s normalization.
Successive KMT and DPP governments have not wanted or dared to demolish this obstacle by drawing up a reasonable and normal constitution that matches the reality. As no Taiwanese government or political party has managed to write a new constitution that would rationalize the extent of the nation’s territory, the issue can only be resolved through a popular referendum.
However, the amended Constitution completely cuts off this route, making this issue a “forbidden zone” in which ordinary citizens have no say. In effect, the Referendum Act has been emasculated. In the face of such treachery, people still have plenty to protest about.
Some people might fear that if a new constitution is written for Taiwan, it will provoke China and make it unhappy. However, China is not likely to launch a military attack on Taiwan for this reason.
China has made the Taiwanese government and public unhappy by repeatedly flying its warplanes around Taiwan, but China says: “In time, everyone will get used to it.”
If Taiwan were to get a new constitution, China would surely be unhappy about it, but Taiwan could just as well say that everyone can get used to that, too.
After the legislature amended the act, two similar cartoons were published in the media.
One shows a birdcage, representing the old version of the act, with its door wide open, allowing the caged bird, representing the people, to fly off freely into the clear, blue sky.
In the other, the cage’s door is open and the bird is standing outside, but one of its legs is firmly tied up inside the cage so that it cannot fly.
Under this emasculated Referendum Act, Taiwanese are more like the bird in the second cartoon, are they not?
Peng Ming-min was an adviser to former president Chen Shui-bian.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.