MAC says Hsieh comments are a sign of progress

Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came to the aid of DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday, who on Wednesday said that the DPP has not ruled out the possibility of unification with China.

The DPP has long held that Taiwan should be independent of China, and party hardliners view talk of unification as sacrilege. Hsieh's comments on Wednesday had upset DPP stalwarts who advocate either maintaining the status quo or moving toward independence.

"The DPP is making a lot of progress," Tsai said in response to reporters' questions about Hsieh's remarks.

"The DPP used to stick to its pro-independence platform, but now they've even agreed that unification is one of the options. You can see how much progress the party has made," Tsai said.

The chairwoman also added that Hsieh's remarks were not in conflict with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) stance on the cross -strait issue.

Some pro-independence hardliners accused Hsieh of contradicting the DPP's platform with his remarks.

The Taiwan Independence Party (建國黨) also released a statement yesterday that accused Hsieh of "selling out Taiwan" (賣台).

"Hsieh's remarks have distorted Taiwan's status as an independent sovereign state and have betrayed public opinion," Camaron Kao (高金郎), the party's deputy secretary-general said in the statement.

In response, Hsieh yesterday reiterated his stance that his remarks were consistent with the DPP's long-held position on Taiwan independence.

He said the DPP had stated clearly in its revised party platform that any change regarding Taiwan's future -- including unification -- must be agreed upon by the people.

Lending support to Hsieh was New Party legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), who urged the DPP chairman yesterday to bring the DPP's pro-independence platform in line with Hsieh's remarks.

Hsiao Hsin-huang (蕭新煌), a member of the inter-party task force on cross-strait relations (兩岸跨黨派小組), urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait to put aside disputes over independence and unification.

"There is a long way to go before the two sides can reach any agreement on these disputed matters, so why don't we be patient and start developing a cooperative relationship first?" Hsiao said.

Hsiao added that Taiwan preferred that democracy come before unification, while China insisted on the opposite.

He said that both sides had thought about the possibility of unification and he urged both to sit down and negotiate without preconditions.