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Legislators propose `softer' plebiscite law

Seeking to help end the sovereignty row, two DPP lawmakers yesterday proposed a measure that would allow the government to call a plebiscite "only in the face of clear and present external menace."

Eugene Jao (趙永清), who recently joined the ruling party, told reporters that it is ill-conceived to seek any immediate change to Taiwan's political status quo through a direct vote.

The lawmaker made the remark during a news conference aimed at helping pull the DPP out of a war of words sparked by President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call on Taiwanese Saturday to seriously consider a referendum law.

Chen has since remained mum on the issue, apparently daunted by the ensuing outcry at home and abroad.

Jao, who has not masked his reservations about the pro-independence clause enshrined in the DPP charter, said the delicate relationship between Taiwan and China made a plebiscite insalubrious.

However, he said he agreed to the notion that the nation's 23 million people have the ultimate say on Taiwan's destiny if China makes concrete, aggressive moves against the nation.

To strike a balance, Jao suggested the legislature give top priority to a bill that would give the people the right to initiate and confirm policy issues in line with the spirit of democracy.

The bill, he elaborated, should incorporate an emergency clause empowering the people to decide Taiwan's fate through a democratic process, when external threats arise.

The lawmaker said that different parties should not bicker over such legislation, as the 18th Article of the Constitution states clearly that the people have the right of election, recall, initiative and referendum.

Fellow DPP lawmaker Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), who was present at Jao's press conference, said he supported the compromise measure, which he portrayed as "passive and defensive" in nature. "In other words, a plebiscite would never be invoked as long as China refrains from brinkmanship," Lee said.

But the opposition KMT and PFP have said they would do all they can to block any referendum bills lest they be turned into a tool by pro-independence groups to declare Taiwan independent.
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