Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu made the remarks during a tea party with a group of reporters covering the Presidential Office.
If the Chen is re-elected, Lu predicted, the Beijing authorities will come to understand that they have to negotiate with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
"This will be the first step in maintaining cross-strait stability," she said.
Should that be the case, Lu went on, the DPP and its pan-green allies will stand a good chance of winning a majority of seats in the year-end legislative elections.
Claiming that many of the administration's reform programs have been obstructed by the opposition-controlled legislature over the past four years, Lu said gaining a legislative majority will greatly facilitate the implementation of Chen's major policy initiatives.
Lu described the referendum as a historic event in Taiwan's democratic development.
"The referendum is a crucial first step to protect Taiwan's status quo," Lu said, adding that once the referendum results come out, China will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to the Taiwanese people's appeal for its withdrawal of the hundreds of missiles pointed at the nation.
Noting that Chen's referendum initiative has caught world attention and has thus helped make the Taiwan Strait issue an international concern, Lu said Taiwan can use the referendum to demonstrate to the world its desire for peace and commitment to preserving the status quo.
Lu said that the two referendum questions epitomize a two-pronged approach to push Beijing to negotiate with Taiwan for crafting a mechanism for peaceful interaction.
The two questions are:
"The people of the Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should mainland China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and openly renounce the use of force against us, do you agree that the government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities?"
"Do you agree that our government should engage in negotiation with China on the establishment of a peace and a stability framework for cross-strait interaction in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples of both sides."
Lu said that even though the answers to the two questions may be self-evident, the referendum has to be held to manifest the people's sovereignty.
"I think there should be feasible ways to avoid a cross-strait war other than deploying anti-missile systems," she said.
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