Pro-independence supporters led by former president Lee Teng-hui (
The activists are upset with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration speech, in which he backed away from a pledge to create a new constitution, opting instead to amend the existing Constitution.
Ng Chiau-tong (
Ng said Lee had agreed to organize the campaign, while Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (
Chen has said he did not backtrack from his constitutional reform plan and merely treated it with caution to take into account various interests. But Ng said drafting a new constitution is needed to specify Taiwan's independent status.
Ng said the campaign is a private effort and "has nothing to do with Chen's ideas."
Legislative discord
Criticizing Chen's plan to amend the constitution through the existing legislative process, in which 75 percent of lawmakers have to approve amendments, Ng said, "Basically it's impossible to get three fourths of the legislative body to agree on the amendment."
Ng said that what Chen wants to change through constitutional amendments, such as whether the country should have a three-branch or five-branch system or whether to adopt a presidential or parliamentary system, are just minor problems. The most important issue is whether the sovereignty issue is addressed, according to Ng.
"What we want is to create a new constitution through a referendum and we hope that sovereignty issues, such as the scope of Taiwan's territory, will be addressed. [It should state] that Taiwan's territory is Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu," Ng said.
Ng said the title "Republic of China (ROC)" only isolates Taiwan in the international community and that country must change its name to "Taiwan."
National territory
He said if it is too much trouble to tackle the controversial sovereignty issue in the constitutional reform project, the section of the Constitution dealing with national territory should be dropped.
"Japan does not mention its territory in its constitution, nor does the US, so we could also do without it," Ng said.
Ng dismissed Chen's inauguration remarks in which he said issues related to national sovereignty, territory and unification versus independence, on which the public has yet to reach a consensus, be dropped from the constitutional re-engineering project, saying the pro-independence campaign will promote a social consensus.
He said the campaign will be conducted both domestically and internationally.
Based on the organization of the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance, which created a 2-million person human chain on Feb. 28, Ng said, seminars and discussions will be held across the country and efforts to gain international media attention and foreign support would also be made.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS