Chen urged to use `defensive' plebiscite

A pro-independence group yesterday urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to initiate a "defensive referendum" to determine the official name of the nation.

The Taiwan Society made the call yesterday following the Referendum Review Committee's decision on Friday to reject the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) request to hold a referendum on whether to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan."

DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun filed the proposal with the Central Election Commission (CEC) on May 21. The CEC did a primary review and evaluation of the proposal and then submitted it to the Cabinet's Referendum Review Committee for final authorization.

The opposition-controlled committee rejected the DPP-sponsored initiative 12-8 on Friday, with some committee members arguing that such a referendum was unnecessary as pushing for the country's inclusion in the UN is already government policy.

Seven committee members immediately tendered their resignations following the announcement of the decision on Friday afternoon.

To counter the committee decision, Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), vice chairman of the Taiwan Society, yesterday proposed that Chen mount a "defensive referendum" on the UN bid if the DPP loses its appeal with the Cabinet's Appeal Committee.

Yu said on Friday that the DPP would lodge an appeal this week against the committee's decision.

Article 17 of the Referendum Law (公民投票法) empowers the president to initiate a referendum concerning national security if he or she deems the country is threatened by a foreign force or the nation's sovereignty is at risk.

Such a proposal would not need to obtain the committee's approval, but it would need the approval of the Executive Yuan.

At the press conference, members of several civic groups, including the Taiwan Society, the Northern Taiwan Society and the Taiwan United Nations Alliance, also accused the committee of defying public opinion over its rejection of the DPP's proposed referendum.

Calling the committee "unconstitutional," Chin called on the DPP administration to request a constitutional interpretation from the Council of Grand Justices to rule on the legality of the committee.

Chin said any UN bid would be doomed if the country used the name the"Republic of China" (ROC) because the People's Republic of China became the representative of China at the UN in 1971 when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime was "kicked out" of the organization.

Convenor of the society's law and politics department Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) told the press conference that he was not surprised by the committee's decision because it is made up of members in proportion to the seats each political party has in the legislature.

As the DPP has vowed to appeal, Chen Yi-shen said that if it wins, and two referendims are held, it would be interesting to see whether the public would support the DPP's referendum or the KMT's.

However, he questioned what good the DPP's proposal would do for the country even if it won public support because the country's name in the Constitution is still the ROC, he said.

Janice Chen (陳昭姿), a member of the Taiwan Society said she would like to know whether the review committee was against holding a referendum or against using the name "Taiwan."

"They could have voted no in the referendum if they were against using the name Taiwan to join the UN," she said. "If they were against the referendum itself, I'd be very curious to know whether they will refuse the KMT's proposal."