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Government should consider defensive referendum: forum

Taiwan should consider launching a "defensive referendum" to defend the nation's sovereignty if China continues to suppress its participation in international organizations, a forum on cross-strait issues said yesterday.

Article 17 of the Referendum Law (公民投票法) states that "when the nation is exposed to an external threat which may affect its sovereignty, the president may, following a resolution by the Executive Yuan, place national security matters before the public for decision in a referendum."

"Taiwan needs to prepare a counterplot as China is trying to swallow up Taiwan," Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), a political science professor at Soochow University, told the forum hosted by Taiwan Thinktank.

Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), a researcher of European and American Studies at the Academia Sinica, suggested that a defensive referendum could pose a question such as: "Do you agree that Taiwan is part of the PRC?"

Lin added that he didn't think the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would dare object to such a referendum.

He said that Taiwan was facing a crisis with China attempting to denigrate Taiwan's status in international organizations through statements such as "Taiwan is part of China" or "China could represent Taiwan."

For example, he said, China asked the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE ) to include the following language in a motion on Taiwan's membership:"There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China."

China is using this new strategy to create the false impression that Taiwan belongs to China and obstruct Taiwan's participation in international organizations, Lin said.

"It is a gradual annexation of Taiwan," Lin said. "China is trying to swallow Taiwan whole. I urge the foreign ministry officials to pay attention to this new tactic."
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