Seeking to define cross-strait issues, the KMT revealed the results of a poll yesterday saying that the ruling DPP should ditch its pro-independence clause from its charter if China removes missiles aimed at Taiwan.
The same survey also noted that China-bound investment would significantly increase if Beijing would soften its military threat against Taiwan.
About 58 percent of the respondents said the DPP should immediately abolish the pro-independence clause in its charter if China pulls hundreds of warheads, targeted at Taiwan, away from its coastal province of Fujian, according to the KMT-sponsored poll.
The survey, based on random telephone interviews of 1,067 residents aged 20 and older, was conducted on June 22 and June 23. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.
The poll came as yet another KMT attempt to influence the government's cross-strait policy making when scores of the party's lawmakers are visiting China in the hope of facilitating direct links between the two sides.
The poll indicated that more Taiwanese businesses would invest in China if Beijing would remove the missiles facing the country, a claim that drew support from as many as 60 percent of the respondents.
Businessmen from Taiwan have pumped more than US$50 billion across the Strait via a third party such as Hong Kong businesses since the ban on private exchange was lifted in the late 1980s.
Though reiterating calls for direct trade and transport with Taiwan, Chinese leaders refuse to renounce the use of force to bring the country to heel. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has offered to unite it under the "one country, two systems" formula.
The survey noted that over 74 percent of those polled believe halting the arms race is key to building confidence measures between the two sides, while 65 percent portray the removal of Chinese missiles as conducive to cross-strait rapprochement.
Again, the former ruling party urged the government to recognize the "1992 consensus" in its bid to extract concessions from Beijing to dismantle the missiles.
Nearly 50 percent of the respondents agree to the idea, the poll said, adding that 32 percent believe Taiwan would move further towards independence.
The 1992 consensus, allegedly reached by bilateral envoys, binds both China and Taiwan as part of one Chinese state, though the two sides disagree on the definition of the state.
President Chen Shui-bian (
But the KMT, insistent on promoting direct cross-strait trade, has painted recognition of the oral consensus as the sole solution to break the stalemate.
Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office at China's State Council, said during his meeting with Taiwanese legislators that bilateral talks must take place under the framework of "one China."
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