Taiwan needs a new constitution to reflect its current sovereign status, clarify its political structures and define its relationship with China, former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lee was speaking in Taichung at a forum held by the thinktank Taiwan Advocates to promote the drafting of a new constitution.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
As well as the new constitution the forum also discussed referendums and the importance of preventing Taiwan from regressing politically by allowing old and discredited political forces to make a comeback.
In his opening speech Lee said that the forum was meant to enlighten people about their own rights as the bosses of the country and about Taiwan's current status, to consolidate the value of Taiwan's sovereignty and the notion of "Taiwan First," to define the roles of Taiwan and China clearly and to define the hostility of China toward Taiwan.
Lee said that Taiwanese should use three core principles in defining their relationship with China: first that Taiwan and the People's Republic of China are two separate countries which do not belong to each other; second, the confirmation of "Taiwan First," ie, thinking from a nationalist perspective centered on the interests of Taiwan; third, counting China as a hostile country until it renounces its military threats against Taiwan.
Much of the discussion of the need for a new constitution centered on the lack of clarity about who should actually govern in Taiwan's semi-presidential system.
"Taiwan is a political system neither led by the president nor by the Cabinet. The president cannot dismiss the legislature when the legislature is running amok and vice versa," Lee Hung-hsi said.
He said it was necessary to draft a new constitution because it was impossible to amend the current one.
"To have the Constitution amended, regulations require that the amendment has to be proposed by at least one fourth of the legislators, at least three-fourths of the legislators have to be present at the session and at least three-fourths of the legislators present at the session must support the amendment. But with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dominating the legislature, any amendment is destined to fail. So we can only resort to making a new constitution," he said.
Lee Hung-hsi pointed out that the current Constitution was written in 1946 and promulgated in 1947 in China. It reflected the needs of China, and it had nothing to do with Taiwan. Taiwan needed a constitution of its own, he said.
"Someone has even been saying amending the Constitution would cause chaos in the country, but even China has amended its Constitution in the past and we didn't see Chinese people running amok after that," he said.
According to Chen Po-chih (
"Several years back when I was involved in amending the Constitution, I dined with a politician from a certain party who was also involved in the process. I asked that politician why his party supported a political system with two heads and two legislatures. That politician explained that his party did so because if the party lost the presidency, then it could still control the Cabinet; if the party lost the Legislative Yuan, then it could still continue to control the National Assembly," Chen said.
Ruan Ming, a Chinese visiting professor at Tamkang University, attacked KMT without reservation.
Ruan said that Lien Chan (
"China had ceased to use external threats and turned to manipulating Taiwan's internal struggles instead, turning Taiwanese against Taiwanese. China has come to realize its military threat is useless, and the old political power in Taiwan is useless. Only by combining the two can China achieve what it wants. So what China wants this year to install Lien Chan as Taiwan's president," Ruan said.
"Making a new Constitution, meanwhile, is to allow Taiwan's fate to be controlled by Taiwanese people instead of by those who oppose Taiwan's independence. This is our mission," he said.
"We are not pan-blue nor pan-green. We are pan-Taiwan. We are pure Taiwanese while Lien Chan is pure Chinese," he said.
Ruan's fellow countryman, Chinese dissident writer Cao Chang-ching (曹長青) was also unreserved in disparaging the Lien-Soong ticket and China.
Cao pointed out that the pan-blue camp's stress on "One China" was advantageous to China but hurtful toward Taiwan.
"Lien supports and stresses the notion of `One China,' and says there is only one China, and it is the Republic of China. But he cannot deny there is another country called the PRC. He said he wants to put aside the issue of sovereignty, but that actually means he gives up Taiwan's sovereignty. Where else can you find a presidential candidate who abandons the sovereignty of his country?" Cao said.
"Added to this, the [Chinese] Communist Party supports the Lien-Soong ticket and we cannot support candidates supported by the Communist Party. We should use our ballots in this election to show the whole world that Taiwan is not a part of China, but a part of the whole world, and Taiwan belongs to Taiwanese," Cao said.
Cao also mocked Soong: "US Democratic hopeful Howard Dean is losing his nomination campaign due to his `I have a scream' speech because Americans cannot accept an overemotional person to be their leader. On the same basis, Americans would surely not accept a person like James Soong, who frequently kneels down and begs in front of the public, to be their leader. If Soong gets emotional when he goes to meet Jiang Zemin in Beijing and kneels, it would not be a small matter," he said.
Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political commentator and editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, said that the current Constitution and the Republic of China have become myths now.
"Former President Lee Teng-hui has said that the Republic of China no longer exists, but still some people are saying that name, together with the Constitution, exists. These two things have become myths, but Roland Barthes writes that `the myth is a semiological system which has the pretension of transcending itself into a factual system,'" Chin said.
"If the Chen-Lu ticket wins again this year, then certain things are destined to happen: first, KMT has to be Taiwanized then, following the KMT's name change, China's theory that the issue of Taiwan is the continuation of a domestic struggle between the Communist Party and the KMT will collapse. China will lose on its claim on Taiwan," Chin 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
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
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