President Chen Shui-bian (
Speaking in his capacity as the DPP's chairman, Chen said before the party's weekly Central Standing Committee yesterday that although last Saturday's massive march in Kaohsiung to call for a new constitution and a referendum law was a resounding success, attracting 200,000 people, the event should serve as a reminder to the party to be more humble and responsible in pursuing democratic reform.
Chen said the DPP had always sought to live up to people's expectations of democracy. After the change of political power in which the DPP became the ruling party, this responsibility had become even greater.
"For the DPP, the most important meaning of the next presidential election is not to retain power but to continue fulfilling our responsibilities to the people, because our democracy needs reinforcement and reform has to be insisted upon," Chen said.
Chen encouraged party officials to be more humble, united, responsible and confident toward people's expectations, as various polls revealed a high degree of support for a new constitution and referendums.
Chen's remarks were widely interpreted as an attempt to boost morale following a series of opinion polls showing Chen lagging behind the pan-blue candidates -- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The committee meeting invited Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
Chen said the investments indicated foreign investors' confidence in and recognition of Taiwan's investment environment and disproved the opposition parties' claims that the nation's economy was stagnating.
"We believe hard work will eventually bring us a harvest, as long as each party can abandon their partisan differences and interests and work cooperatively," Chen said.
Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who has just returned from Liberal International's (LI) annual conference in Senegal, said the DPP had become a role model for many countries' democratic parties after its success in recent elections.
Liberal International is a London-based organization that groups more than 80 liberal democratic parties from 63 countries. The DPP joined the alliance last year.
Hsieh said many LI members had expressed interest in learning from the DPP's experience in growing from an opposition party to finally winning power.
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