Many of the country's problems and contradictions lie in the polarization of national identification, which resulted from long-term authoritarianism and an illusory "Greater China" ideology, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday.
While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will have been in power for eight years as of next year, Chen said "Taiwan needs another eight years to further deepen democracy."
"Over the past seven years, we have insisted on going down the road of democracy, the road of Taiwan," he said.
"It is a bumpy and shaky road, but as a young democracy, we are not doing too badly. There is much room for improvement and eight years are definitely not enough," he said.
Chen made the remarks during the closing speech of a forum organized by the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the last year of his second term. Chen spent most of the day doing volunteer work.
Outlining the achievements made over the past seven years, Chen said he was glad he had managed to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, consolidate and deepen democracy, strengthen Taiwan-centered consciousness, strike a balance between regional and urban development and establish a diverse industrial structure.
On the issue of cross-strait peace, Chen said opposition parties had claimed that a war would break out if he were elected president, but that nothing as serous as the 1996 missile crisis happened over the years.
Regarding deepening democracy, Chen said his administration completed the task of nationalizing the armed forces within a short period of time.
The Referendum Law of 2003 (
Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday marked her seventh anniversary in office by calling for a clear description of the vice president's role and duties in the Constitution.
"If the legislature decides to amend or rewrite the Constitution in the future, it should make the role and duties of the vice president clearer," she said.
Despite the fact that the presidential ticket is composed of one presidential candidate and one vice presidential candidate, the vice president appears redundant as the power mostly rests with the premier, she said.
"The legislature could do away with the position of vice president if it considers the position unnecessary. But if it believes the vice president could help to lessen the president's load, it should consider creating two vice presidential positions," she said in a gathering with media yesterday in Taipei, adding that she was pleading on behalf of the country's next vice president.
Lu said that the DPP had not achieved its goal of "rule by both sexes" over the past seven years because the number of women named to the Cabinet had actually declined since 2000.
additional reporting by staff reporter
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