Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday told lawmakers that amending the Constitution should not be carried out in haste because it is a big project that concerns all the people.
"We should not forget that China has never renounced its intention to take Taiwan using force. To recognize ourselves as a nation and make ourselves stronger should be our focus instead of [amending the Constitution]," Su said. "We should not make any changes to the Constitution without first consulting the general public, the Taiwanese people."
The premier made the remarks while addressing the legislature yesterday morning. His words came in response to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), who asked Su for his comments on President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "second republic" proposal -- to amend the Constitution and announce Taiwan an independent country.
Chen mentioned the idea at the 80th birthday celebrations of former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) last Sunday evening.
At the party, Chen also cited Koo's 1996 article entitled "Establishing A Country of Our Own," in which Koo wrote that Taiwanese should establish a country by using the nation's "sorrowful history" as the "backbone" in order to rebuild people's confidence. Chen said that establishing an independent country was his dream and resolution.
Su also told lawmakers it was his belief that it would not be easy to secure the public's consent to amend the Constitution at this moment because the issue concerns the relationship between Taiwan, China and the US.
"As premier, I have never tried to stop anybody talking about amending the Constitution. We accept different voices. But personally, I am the premier of the Republic of China and it is not appropriate for me to comment on the issue. That will not change," Su said.
The premier also reminded lawmakers not to forget about the ever present threat posed by China.
"They [the Chinese government] will never give up trying to make us part of them. We should recognize ourselves as a country and do our best to defend ourselves even though we have never considered ourselves as being their enemy," Su said.
New Party Legislator Wu Cherng-dean (吳成典) challenged the premier and said that Taiwan cannot continue to treat China as the enemy because Taiwan's development definitely concerns China.
"There will be a lot of advantages for us if we can handle the cross-strait relationship well," he said.
The premier said that being careful was the bottom line to handling China.
"There are still lots of different ways for [China] to annex us," Su said. "We cannot provide them with them any opportunities."
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
DEMAND: The government should enact regulations in line with Austria and Germany to incorporate vegan nutrition into school meals, an advocate said More than 1,000 people yesterday marched in Taipei to promote veganism, calling for legislation to incorporate vegan diets into school lunches and the national net zero emissions program. Participants gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building for the march, which was organized by the Vegan Action Network (VAN). Former ambassador to Chad Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁), actor Yankee Yang (楊子儀) and actress Cindy Lien (連俞涵) attended the event. VAN member Marianne Chao (趙梅君) said that the campaign aimed to urge the government to promote vegan diets across schools and government agencies via legislation and national policies, which would help build
RSS