Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday said that the party would establish a task force to conduct a series of constitutional changes in response to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call for a new Constitution.
Chang said that the DPP would push for the adoption of a presidential system, a two-level government administration and oppose measures allowing the vice president to serve concurrently as the premier.
"The Presidential Office, the Cabinet and party headquarters have decided to set up a constitutional re-engineering task force before the next presidential election in a bid to present a new vision and blueprint for a new Constitution," Chang said yesterday at DPP headquarters. "This is a serious responsibility that no presidential candidate should dodge."
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The task force would be led by Chang and Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen (
Chang said these issues would be addressed in Chen's presidential campaign. He also called on the pan-blue camp's presidential candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu said that since 1990, the DPP has proposed a Constitution draft based on the framework of England's Magna Carta. Since then, a number of different ideas for a new Constitution have been brought up, Lu said.
"It is a continuation of the DPP's endeavor for a new Taiwanese Constitution. People who were shocked at the president's call for a new Constitution were so because of insufficient understanding of the DPP's history," Lu said yesterday.
Lu also spoke on behalf of the president to reiterate that the new Constitution idea does not contradict the "five nos" promise Chen made in his 2000 presidential inauguration.
However, Lu said that the precondition for Chen's obeying of his "five nos" is that China should renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
"As China's military threat against Taiwan constantly increases, we don't have to overemphasize the `five nos' policy and use it to constrain President Chen," Lu said.
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