DPP heavyweights announced yesterday that they intend to propose amendments to the party's charter that would remove its founding pro-independence principles.
Senior officials said the proposal would be taken up at the party's central advisory committee meeting today, where they would put the removal of the "independence guidelines" on the table in an attempt to counter claims made during the election that the DPP's policies were dangerous.
"The independence guidelines should be regarded as a historical document and words such as `establishing the Republic of Taiwan' should be deleted," said Chen Chao-nan (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
He stressed that Taiwan's independent sovereignty has already been carried out by democratic developments, under which Taiwan-ese can now elect their own president freely and have already established a democratic legislature.
Chen said that the independence guidelines had become a weakness for the DPP, forcing its candidates onto the defensive in elections.
It is also a thorny issue in President-elect Chen Shui-bian's (
"The main point of our guidelines is `to use plebiscite measures' to establish an independent sovereign Republic of Taiwan," Chen said.
"Now we only need to delete `Republic of Taiwan' and `to rewrite the constitution' and then add `to firmly establish an independent sovereign and autonomous country, while any changes to the status quo should be decided by plebiscite.'"
Vice President-elect Annette Lu (
"It proves that the DPP is not a rigid party and realizes the importance of changing in order to face both the rest of the world and Taiwan's own society," Lu said.
President-elect Chen, meanwhile, made an appeal to Chinese leaders yesterday during a Presbyterian Church service in Taipei, saying that only with a considerate, humble heart can they truly seek peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Leaders of the DPP's Justice Alliance faction, organized by the president-elect in 1993, said that they agreed with the proposal to modify the pro-independence guidelines, but that the proper thing to do would be to revise all the party's guidelines, instead of focusing on one particular part.
"We should not only solve problems after they occur," said DPP legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
"We should offer a complete plan to modify our party guidelines in order to create a new image," he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source