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Local elections could decide `peace' bill: DPP officials

Should the pan-blue camp win a majority of seats in the December local-government elections, a bill that surrenders the nation to China might be easily passed in the legislature, said Tung Li-wen (董立文), director of the Democratic Prog-ressive Party's (DPP) Chinese Affairs Department.

Tung made the remarks at a forum on the connection between the elections for county commissioners and city mayors and the cross-strait relations.

The forum was held by the DPP in a bid to block the cross-strait peace advancement bill -- which recognizes the "one China" principle -- from being turned into law.

The DPP has labeled the bill, which is sponsored by the pan-blue camp, a "capitulation law" or a bylaw of China's "Anti-Secession" Law.

Beijing passed a controversial "Anti-Secession" Law earlier this year that legalizes a Chinese military attack on Taiwan under certain conditions.

"Pan-blue incumbent and former chiefs of local governments have visited China 32 times since the DPP came to power in 2000," Tung said.

While their discussions in China covered a range of subjects, they have avoided mentioning the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty, its national security and the value of democracy and freedom, giving the impression they are local authorities of the Chinese government, he said.

"What they have done in China caters to China's attempt to downgrade Taiwan's status to the same level as that of Hong Kong, a local authority of China," Tung said.

At the forum, the DPP announced the frequency of visits to China by pan-blue candidates who are running in the year-end elections. People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) has visited China six times, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世) and Lienchiang County Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) of the PFP have gone five times.

The DPP also said that PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hui (沈智慧) went to China three times, while PFP legislators Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) and Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), former legislator Chen Jung-shen (陳榮盛) and Taitung Council Speaker Wu Chun-li (吳俊立) of the KMT all visited China twice.

If the pan-blue camp wins more than half of the seats for county councilors and city mayors in the December elections, either the Chinese government or the international community might think that Taiwanese people do not really oppose the cross-strait peace advancement bill and the "Anti-Secession" Law, said Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), director of foreign policy studies at the Taiwan Thinktank.
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