The chairman of the TSU, calling for opposition parties to rally behind the government in the national interest, reiterated TSU support for a referendum law yesterday, but said that since Taiwan is already independent, the issue to be decided would be whether or not to unite with China.
"It's unnecessary for Taiwan to hold a referendum on independence, because Taiwan has long been an independent country. But we could hold a referendum on whether we want to unify with China," said the party's chairman, Huang Chu-wen (黃主文).
"Taiwan and China are two separate countries -- one country on each side, with the two sides enjoying parity in sovereignty. The opposition parties should stop acting as China's representatives in Taiwan and start to unite with the ruling DPP for Taiwan's interests," Huang said.
The press conference followed a routine party committee meeting yesterday and was held to repeat the party's support for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "one country on each side" remark by emphasizing the importance of holding a referendum,and condemning the performance of the opposition parties over the past few days.
"The PFP/KMT attacks on the government make them look like allies of China. Their charges and China's attacks on Taiwan's government and our leader have pushed democratic Taiwan toward centralized China," the press release states.
"To prevent Taiwan from being ruled by the communist country, we insist on passing a referendum law to defend Taiwan," it added.
At yesterday's press conference, Huang said that TSU legislators would introduce the party's own referendum bill in the next legislative session, as part of its policy aimed at changing Taiwan's official name to "Taiwan" rather than the "Republic of China."
He added that "the referendum system is very popular in democratic countries and there is no need to blow the issue out of proportion."
Huang, however, said there is no timetable for the bill's progress, "because the TSU is not a majority party in the Legislative Yuan."
The ruling DPP has noted the contentious nature of the referendum issue.
DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) expressed his concern on Sunday over the possible side-effects of legalizing a referendum, saying, it isn't the right time to do so.
Highlighting internal DPP rifts on the timing for such legislation, Huang said "holding referenda is one of the rights that the Constitution grants to the citizenry. We appeal to the DPP to cooperate with us for the referendum's legalization in Taiwan."
DPP lawmaker Trong Chai (
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