If the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) can win next year's presidential election by an overwhelming margin, the US will be compelled to review its "one China" policy, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said on Saturday.
Yu said that after the DPP won the presidential election in 2004, many US think tanks raised doubts about Washington's "one China" policy.
But the DPP had not "won by large enough a margin," for this to happen, he said.
If the party can win more votes next year, with people identifying with Taiwan throwing their support behind the DPP presidential candidate, he is confident the "US would review its policy and consequently influence Japan, the EU and other democratic bodies," Yu said.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) won the presidential election in 2004 by a razor-thin margin.
Yu said that next year will be crucial in terms of solving the problems the nation faces, adding that the country has "been in a chaotic state" over the past seven years with the opposition trying to topple the Cabinet and to recall the president.
If national identity cannot be resolved, then many other problems the nation faces will not be solved either, he said.
Citing a recent opinion poll which showed that approximately 70 percent of the people identified with Taiwan while only a little more than 10 percent identified with China, Yu said that if the DPP were able to stay in power after next year, then the issue of national identity could be resolved.
He said it is widely believed there are three options for the nation -- eventual unification with China, for which Taiwan would pay a "heavy price" and which most people would rather not see happen; maintaining the status quo, for which the nation would pay a lesser price but which would be like subjecting oneself to "chronic poisoning"; and independence, which could be "a crooked and winding road."
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