Aside from elaborating on their platform for government, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) four presidential aspirants yesterday locked horns over the controversial construction of a freeway connecting Suao, Ilan County and Hualien in the first public debate organized by the party.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that he had ordered a second environmental impact study although the previous administration had already earmarked a budget for the Suhua freeway construction project.
"I will never pursue the construction project if the the result of the assessment is negative," he said at the debate, which took place at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. "If there is a clash between economic development and environmental conservation, I will favor protecting the environment."
Su also criticized his opponent, former premier Frank Hsieh (
Clean up
"If he had dealt with the matter, I wouldn't have to clean up after him," Su said.
In his defense, Hsieh said he did not arrange any budget for the Suhua freeway project during his term as premier but had proposed an alternative project so that people in eastern Taiwan would not suffer losses if the project were stalled.
Saying that the core values of local sovereignty include the defense of Taiwanese independence, care for underprivileged and achieving social justice, Hsieh -- citing the Suhua Freeway construction project as an example -- said that although many people are in favor of building such a freeway, "one needs to think clearly when one makes a choice."
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, meanwhile, said that he was careful to have the project go through an ecological evaluation during his term as premier.
"If I had not called a stop to the project and ordered an ecological evaluation during my term [as the premier], construction would have already started," he said.
Using his administrative achievements as Ilan County commissioner as an example, Yu said environmental protection has always been a prime concern.
"A few days ago, when the Environmental Protection Administration published an evaluation report of the nation's rivers, Dongshan River (冬山河) [in Ilan] remained one of the best in the country," he said.
On the issue of sovereignty, Yu said the DPP's Resolutions Concerning Taiwan's Future, passed in 1999, was outdated.
Abolish resolutions
The resolutions stipulate that "Taiwan, though still called Republic of China, is an independent sovereignty and any change to the independent status quo has to be decided by the people through a referendum."
The resolutions also stipulate that "Taiwan does not belong to China and that China's `one-China' principle or `one nation, two systems' principle do not apply to Taiwan."
Yu said he would propose at the party's national congress on June 30 to abolish the resolutions.
He added that he would change the nation's title to "Taiwan" if he were elected president and would not keep President Chen Shui-bian's (
Yu said he would seek to develop normal cross-strait relations under the principle of "brotherhood," but he did not give detailed policies.
Asked whether he would support unification if majority of Taiwanese prefer unification, Hsieh said: "[Assuming that the public would prefer] unification is a strange theory because those who favor this should have relocated themselves to China by now."
RSS