The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will give its full support to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) New Year's pledges, in which he resolved to protect the nation's sovereignty and offered a blueprint for the nation's development in the next two years, a top DPP official said yesterday.
Shortly after Chen made his New Year's speech yesterday morning, DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), speaking on behalf of the party, said that the DPP will strongly back Chen's commitments, which meet "public expectations."
Direction
"President Chen has worked out the key points of the country's new direction for the next two years, including guarding Taiwan's sovereignty, defending national security, insisting on reform and vowing to build up a government free from corruption," Lee said. "These are not only expectations of the social mainstream but are also the DPP's long-term values."
"The DPP will be united and give its full support to the president. We also hope that the people of Taiwan will recognize the president's efforts and give him encouragement," he said.
Lee said that the DPP agrees with Chen's declaration that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to the nation's 23 million people, that Taiwanese should not assume that unification with China is inevitable and that China should not force the Taiwanese people to accept unification through non-peaceful means.
"It is a core value of democratic Taiwan that the people of Taiwan have free will to decide their future. The DPP has upheld this belief and will never give it up," Lee said.
Denying sovereignty
Lee also criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair-man Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who argues that unification with China is the ultimate goal for Taiwan and would negate Taiwan's autonomy and deny its sovereignty.
"We really regret Ma's pro-China stance. It is unacceptable that Ma takes China's side on unification and treats it as the only choice for Taiwan," Lee said.
Lee also promised that the DPP would remold itself and do its best to regain public trust in the party's integrity.
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