Citing a survey that suggests nearly 80 percent of Taiwanese are opposed to ultimate unification with China, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that ceasing the activity of the National Unification Council (NUC) and unification guidelines was in line with public opinion.
Chen made the remarks during an interview with Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily on Friday. He cited a recent public opinion poll as saying that those who support ultimate unification with China are in a minority in Taiwan.
The poll showed that 60 percent of those questioned preferred to maintain the cross-strait status quo, 17 percent supported independence and only 4 percent favored unification, Chen said.
"That is to say that 77 percent of the Taiwanese people oppose ultimate unification. Therefore, ceasing the activity of the NUC and the guidelines not only corresponds with the democratic spirit of power to the people, it also corresponds to the majority public opinion in Taiwan," Chen said in an unabridged interview transcript the Presidential Office released yesterday.
Chen reiterated comments made in his Lunar New Year address regarding a new constitution.
Constitution
"It is not entirely impossible to push for a new constitution and ratify it through a referendum next year, as long as the social conditions in Taiwan are ripe and the public and congress have all agreed on the goal," he said.
The president also said that the constitutional reengineering project should be handled through the correct legal constitutional procedures, and would need to garner the support of three-quarters of legislators and be ratified by the public through a referendum.
"Any sovereignty-related issues that do not comply with such constitutional procedures, including a change of national title, flag and territory, will not be dealt with, as we think they are unhelpful to the maintenance of the [cross-strait] status quo," Chen said.
The Yomiuri yesterday reported that Chen is determined to draft a new constitution that better suits Taiwan's current situation.
The daily also said that the president had "declined to say if the new constitution would contain clauses that would change the status quo in Taiwan, including its official name, the Republic of China."
Major wire agencies and local newspapers yesterday also reported on the Yomiuri article. Local Chinese-language evening paper, the United Evening Express, ran an article under the headline "Chen is determined to draw up a new constitution by 2008."
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) yesterday said the headline was too "sensational."
"The president did not make such a statement. Instead, the president said [in the interview] that he will stick ... to the basis for constitutional reform pronounced in his inauguration speech in 2004, and his New Year statement this year," Huang said.
"The president also said that if social conditions are ripe, then it is possible we can complete constitutional reform before 2008. This is about the ripeness of social conditions, not about the president being determined to push through the new constitution before 2008," he said.
In the interview, the president also confirmed that intelligence information indicated that China is gearing up preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.
"[China] hopes to consolidate its hardware for using force against Taiwan by 2006, complete a mass-scale preparation for war by 2010 and finish its preparations for a victorious war by 2015," Chen said.
UN membership
The president also reaffirmed a determination to join the UN under the name of Taiwan.
"It is not only Taiwan's right but also an obligation for Taiwan to join the UN. If Taiwan can't join the UN under the name of Taiwan, I want to ask the world, are there any other better names than Taiwan for us to use to join the organization?" the president said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique