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Lee Teng-hui to give speech on new constitution

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) will give a speech in English tomorrow evening in a videoconference with US officials and academics attending a symposium on Taiwan's constitutional reform in Washington, in an effort to defend the legitmacy and necessity of creating a new constitution for Taiwan.

Organized by the Taiwan-based groups Center for Taiwan International Relations (CTIR) and Action for a Taiwanese Constitution (ATC), the Symposium on Taiwan's Constitutional Reform and US-Taiwan-China Relations will be held at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington tomorrow from 9am to 8pm.

The symposium will commence with Lee's speech on Taiwan's bid for a new constitution from Taipei's Ambassador Hotel through videoconference with the US participants at 9:30pm in Taiwan.

The decision to use a videoconference format was made after President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) successful interview with the UN Correspondents Association last month. During his 30 minute speech, Lee will concentrate on the right of the 23 million people of Taiwan to write a constitution for their country.

Lee will also highlight the legitimacy of the move and the need for Taiwan to become a normal country, said Wang Kang-hou (王康厚), financial director of the ATC.

Lee will say that the Republic of China Constitution that was enacted in 1947 no longer suits Taiwan's needs, and it is clear that Taiwan needs a new one, Wang said. Lee oversaw six revisions of the Constitution during his presidential term, yet even these changes have not overcome the irrelevancy of the Constitution, Lee will say, Wang said.

Moreover, Wang said, Lee will stress that formulating a new constitution corresponds to Taiwan's demand for further democratization, and if Taiwan's democracy becomes more mature by new constitution, it will contribute to peace in Asia.

However, according to Wang, Lee will not bring up the issue of Taiwan's independence, but will simply accentuate the significance of rectifying Taiwan's official name from the "Republic of China" to "Taiwan."

World United Formosans for Independence Chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂), also one of the ATC organizers, said that pro-independence groups will continue to hold meetings in Japan and in Europe explaining to international audiences that Taiwan will not provoke cross-strait tensions.

Many Asia specialists and people who are concerned about Taiwan's new constitution will participate in the forum and give speeches, including former chairman of American Institute in Taiwan Nat Bellocchi; Larry Niksch, an Asian specialist in the Congressional Research Service; John Tkacik, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Arthur Waldron, the director of Asian Studies at American Enterprise Institute and James Auer, a former Special Assistant for Japan in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense.

Senior Advisor to the President Koo Kwang-ming's (辜寬敏), Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志), head of the Taiwan UN Alliance, Shane Lee (李憲榮), a professor of law and politics at Chang Jung University and Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) are also planning to attend the forum in Washington.

The Chinese Television System is scheduled to provide the technical assistance for the videoconference.
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