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Yu Shyi-kun's resolutions pledge gets mixed reaction

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun's promise on Saturday that he would seek to abolish part of the party's Resolutions Concerning Taiwan's Future received a mixed reaction from within the party yesterday.

The resolutions, which were upheld as the party's platform after they was passed in 1999, stipulate that "Taiwan, though still called Republic of China, is an independent sovereignty and any change to the independent status quo has to be decided by the people through a referendum."

The resolutions, considered as the DPP's principle in dealing with China, also stipulate that "Taiwan does not belong to China and that China's `one China' principle or `one nation, two systems' principle do not apply to Taiwan."

The major difference between the DPP's original platform and the resolutions is that the former refused to recognize the nation as the Republic of China (ROC) while the latter does, but emphasizes the nation's sovereignty.

Yu said during Saturday's DPP presidential platform debate that he would put forth a proposal to abolish the resolutions in the party's national congress on June 30 and "uphold the party platform's goal to build the Republic of Taiwan."

Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), one of Yu's opponents in the party's primary, told the press yesterday that Yu's proposal also pointed out that "the inappropriate `one China' framework" does exist in the Constitution.

Hsieh, who has been under attack from pro-independence supporters because of a comment he made in 2000 to the effect that there is a "one China" framework in the Constitution, said Yu's proposal had helped clarify his [Hsieh's] previous comments in that regard as "Yu's proposal indicated that there are problems with the resolutions."

The resolutions were drawn up to face this inherent problem in the Constitution, he added.

He suggested that the party amend the Constitution instead of abolish the Resolutions.

Yu's proposal, however, garnered support from DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男), who said yesterday that he hoped more discussions on the issue would be held and a consensus could be reached.

DPP legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅), however, questioned the feasibility of Yu's proposal.

Approached by the media for comment, Lee said abolition of the resolutions could cause confusion and engender operational difficulty between the party and the DPP administration as the latter, observes the resolutions, recognize the nation's title as ROC.

Yu yesterday further elaborated by saying that the resolutions were established because those who identified with Taiwan only accounted for 30 percent of the people at the time.

Considering the fact that nearly 70 percent of the people now identify with Taiwan and 62 percent of them support Taiwanese independence, Yu said the DPP should ditch the resolutions and uphold the DPP's core values to build an independent Republic of Taiwan.
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