The success of President Chen Shui-bian's (
More importantly, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also stressed that the foreign tour provided a turning point in Taiwan's presidential election campaign, giving Chen the lead over his opponent, the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Lien Chan (連戰).
"President Chen has proved that his proposal to draw up a new constitution is not just a domestic campaign strategy, but is justified by the international society," senior political columnist Hu Wen-huei. (
Chen recently returned from his trip to Panama. He received the 2003 Human Rights Award from the International League of Human Rights during his stopover in New York.
Hu said that Chen had been dominating the campaign issues by initiating his referendum proposal in the first half of this year, bringing up the idea of a new constitution in September and establishing a timetable for it in October.
Hu said the opposition parties had criticized Chen, saying that he is using campaign tricks. The US seems to be unhappy with these proposals as well, because they believe it could jeopardize the cross-strait relationship, he said.
"During his 35 minute speech at the international human rights ceremony, Chen compared the history of Taiwan's Constitution to that of the US and justified his proposal for a new constitution by referring to common values," Hu said.
While the US government commented positively on Chen's speech, Hu said the KMT and People First Party (PFP) have demonstrated incredible "rudeness and impropriety" during the president's trip, including PFP Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) distortion of the truth by saying that Chen had been poorly received and KMT and PFP legislators' attacks on American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairwoman Therese Shaheen.
"This shows that Lien and Soong lack people who understand the international political status. The way their legislators attacked Shaheen will do nothing but hurt Taiwan-US relationships," Hu said.
"If Shaheen was not important, then the opposition need not attack her. The more they attack her, the more highly the Taiwanese community will think of her. On the other hand, if she is considered important, shouldn't the pan-blue camp understand that if Lien and Soong are elected next year, they would have to interact with her. What good does it do to damage our relationship with Shaheen?"
DPP Legislator Parris Chang (
"She has strong backing, that's why she purposely revealed publicly that Bush is [Chen's] `secret guardian angel' to prove that the decision of giving him a high-profile reception had been authorized by the US Department of State. After Taiwan's firm support of the US during the past three years in major international events, such as the campaign against terrorism and the US-led war in Iraq, the US government obviously wanted to completely return the favor to President Chen," Chang said.
"The partnership relations demonstrated by Chen's stopovers in New York and Anchorage have made a joke of opposition parties' criticism," Chang said.
Deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office Joseph Wu (
"Chen's trips to these countries have been beneficial, as he managed to use the trips to deal with Taiwan's domestic issues. This time he focused on international relationships, as well as Taiwan's democratic achievements and human rights reforms," Wu said.
Chen has won more support after positive reports in the international and domestic media. A recent poll shows that his popularity has exceeded that of the Lien-Soong ticket for the first time since they declared their intention to run in the presidential election.
"There are two external factors that will affect Taiwan's election. The first is China's action; the other is what the US-led international community believes," senior political commentator Chen Sung-shan (
"China has made no comment [on Taiwan's upcoming presidential election], and the US has shown its support. This will certainly influence the election," he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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