DPP Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (
Organizers have arranged a group of 17 athletes to complete the 1,200km torch relay across the country's 25 cities and counties in 11 days.
Cho said Chen would pass the torch to DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Chen told reporters in Kaohsiung that he hoped both the central and local government had learned a lesson as a result of the dispute. He said the torch relay should not be contentious because the ruling and opposition parties were agreed that UN membership was an important goal.
Cho called on the public, regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity or religion, to participate in the event to show their support for the government's UN bid.
Cho said he hoped as many DPP party members as possible would take part.
DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓), whoalso serves as director of the party's Culture and Information Department and is an avid jogger, called on the KMT to participate.
She said her understanding was that members of the KMT's Youth League had wanted to join the relay but had been instructed not to do so.
During an interview with a radio station in Kaohsiung yesterday, Chen said he would be neglecting his duty as president if he failed to push for UN membership under the name "Taiwan."
Chen said that "returning" to the UN under the name of the "Republic of China," as the KMT has suggested, would be a "major change of the status quo."
The president said the importance of the DPP's referendum proposal, which is in the second stage, rivals that of next year's presidential election.
He said the election equated to a choice between Taiwan and China and expressed confidence in the result, saying he believed Taiwan-centered consciousness would beat out China sentiment.
Chen dismissed speculation that he had tried to outshine Hsieh, saying that the presidential candidate had his full backing.
In a related development, KMT Legislator John Chiang (
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and CNA
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