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`Peace law' draft outlined

The People First Party (PFP) announced yesterday that it will propose a draft law by the end of the month aimed at maintaining cross-strait peace.

The Taiwan peace law draft will lay out a framework for maintaining the status quo between China and Taiwan by establishing guidelines and principles for a cross-party council to negotiate with China, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said yesterday.

Referring to the controversial NT$610.8 billion (US$18 billion) arms package now before the legislature, Soong said that a Cold War style peace created by an arms war could only be a "fake" peace.

The only way to create prosperous and peaceful cross-strait relations is through cross-strait negotiations, Soong said, which is why the PFP would propose the law.

"The law will be successful in promoting peace because it follows the spirit of [President] Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) 2000 `Four noes and one without' proposal," Soong said.

In his first inaugural speech, Chen announced the "Four Noes" policy: that he would not declare independence, constitutionalize the "two-state" model, change the nation's name, or have a plebiscite on Taiwan's national status.

The "Four Noes" are popular with the Taiwanese people, Soong said, pointing out that Chen's approval ratings were at 75 percent after his May 2000 speech.

At the time, the US was also supportive of the policy and China was grudgingly acceptive, making the "Four Noes" the perfect model for PFP's draft bill, he said.

Soong said the PFP wants mem-bers of the proposed cross-party council to be called "ambassadors of peace."

According to draft, council members would work toward nine goals, including opening the Chi-nese market to Taiwanese agricultural products and encouraging Chinese tourism in Taiwan; the establishment of a free-trade area to promote cross-strait trade; formulating an agreement to open direct links; drawing up an investment protection pact for cross-strait investments; holding forums on cross-strait issues; getting China to agree to Taiwanese participation in international non-governmental organizations; the establishment of a demilitarization zone and a pact to maintain the status quo for at least 50 more years.

After the draft is shown to all the legislative caucuses and academics, the PFP will submit it to the legislature. Given the shortened legislative session, PFP officials admit that it is unlikely the bill will be passed before the end of the year.

Proposing the bill now, however, will serve to make the draft law a focus of the PFP's candidates' legislative campaigns, Soong said.

"Other parties' candidates can put on shows. We will campaign by comparing our proposed bills with theirs," he said.
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