President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Monday bitterly lashed out at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who has criticized him for not moving faster on Taiwan's independence.
He said that Lee was asking him to do something that Lee himself couldn't pull off during 12 years as president.
"There can only be one president in a country, not two," Chen said, suggesting that Lee was trying to undercut his position.
Chen made the remark during a live TV interview broadcast on Monday night.
During the interview, Chen said Lee put forward the famous "special state-to-state relationship" proposal to describe Taiwan-China ties on July 9, 1997, but withdrew that statement within five days.
Chen also said that he had personally asked Lee why he did not deny the existence of the so-called "1992 consensus" in 2000 when Lee handed over power to Chen.
If Lee had done that, Chen said, things would not have turned out the way they are today.
In an apparent move to appease pro-independence supporters, Chen said that his government has been pressing ahead with efforts to promote Taiwan's self-identity.
"I never delayed the [national] `title rectification' campaign, and in fact, in [one of] my overseas visits, I changed the title of our agricultural consultation corps in our diplomatic ally from the `Republic of China' to `Taiwan,'" he said, without naming the country.
In his interview, Chen said he chose to cooperate with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
To enable the lawmaking body to pass bills, he had to bow to reality and cooperate with the opposition leader.
He said that despite the alliance, he had never delayed the government's efforts to enhance Taiwanese identity.
Chen said that, in addition to gradually taking out the "Republic of China," Taiwan's official title, from Taiwanese overseas missions, the government was "in a quiet way" also changing the titles of state firms bearing the name "China."
He said the government was also adding the name "Taiwan" to ID cards for its nationals to supplement the official title.
"But there is no need to play up the act," he said, because of a possible backlash from Beijing.
Chen also revealed that Soong had promised in person that the PFP would help the controversial special arms-procurement bill clear the legislative floor after he returns from China.
"This is also part of the 10-point consensus between Soong and me, but without a written form," Chen said.
According to Chen, he had asked many times for Soong's help to push through the arms bill when they met or talked on the phone, and Soong had promised many times that he would help the bill get passed.
The president said Soong had told him that he needed some time to address differences within the PFP.
In addition, since Soong was about to visit China at that time, Chen said that he was reluctant to push too hard in relation to the legislation.
"Since we have been waiting so long for the passage of the bill, why not believe him one more time?" he said.
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