Hsieh applauds draft resolution

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, front left, and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, front right, appear at a book launch organized by the Kaohsiung City Government yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) lauded the party's latest version of its draft "normal country" resolution yesterday and called it "a success for Taiwan."

Hsieh said that previous discussions over the draft had omitted the opinion and voices of many party members but that many people had participated in Monday's completion of the latest version.

"They made compromises and adjusted [their views]. This is democratic progress and a success for Taiwan," he said when approached for comments in Kaohsiung.

The latest version of the party's draft "normal country" resolution was completed by a task force and members of the party's Central Executive Committee on Monday afternoon.

The party intends to pass the draft at tomorrow's executive committee meeting.

Monday's discussion was open to members of the committee, some of whom are close to Hsieh.

Hsieh and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun had disagreed on the content and wording of an earlier draft made public on Aug 1.

Unlike the Aug. 1 draft, which highlighted the need for the nation to change its title to "Taiwan," the latest version only states the nation should correct its national title and write a new constitution "as soon as possible," without specifying which name the country should adopt.

The latest draft emphasizes the need for Taiwan to "hold a referendum at a time best suited to highlight Taiwan's independent sovereignty," but does not describe what questions should be asked in the referendum.

The latest version also deleted content saying that the nation's new constitution should define its territory as "Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."

Some media speculated yesterday that the latest draft represented a victory for Hsieh and a defeat for Yu, but Hsieh dismissed the discussion, saying that the most important thing was for the people to fully support the government's UN bid.

DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), who doubles as head of the task force, called the latest draft "a result of compromise among different factions."

Commenting on the latest version of the document, the Northern Taiwan Society slammed the DPP for having betrayed its ideals.

The latest version shows that the DPP will echo its presidential candidate and will stop at nothing in order to maintain its grip on power, Yosoh Kure (吳煜宗), the deputy secretary-general of the pro-independence group, told a press conference yesterday.

He condemned the draft for betraying the aspirations of Taiwanese, saying it is unacceptable for the discourse to remain firmly rooted within the "Republic of China system."

Kure questioned why, since Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign state, it was necessary to stress that a referendum would be held at an appropriate time to highlight that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign state.

Northern Taiwan Society vice chairwoman Michelle Wang (王美琇) said that in the past the DPP had been the party that had lead everyone forward. But at this crucial point in time, she said, the party appeared to have grown more conservative -- so much so that it was now the public that was pushing the party forward.

Wang added that it was disappointing to see the DPP deliberately blurring the lines.

At a separate event, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) blasted the drafters of the resolution, accusing them of having "abnormal brains."

The DPP should well have known that many things included in the resolution are "unworkable and may provoke ethnic conflict," but it still proposed the resolution for the sake of electoral concerns, Kuo said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and staff writer