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Presidential election 2008: 20 days to go: Party representatives debate referendums at CEC

At a televised presentation held by the Central Election Commission yesterday, the representative from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged voters to support both UN referendums that are to take place on March 22, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) representative said that the DPP's referendum would damage the nation's international image and voters should only support the KMT's version.

The DPP has petitioned for a referendum to seek UN membership using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT's version advocates rejoining the UN using the "Republic of China [ROC]" or any other "practical" name.

At the beginning of her presentation, DPP Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (管碧玲) stressed that seeking UN membership as the ROC was not practical.

"Since 1993, we've been trying to join the UN using the name `Republic of China' -- but all attempts have failed because the name `China' at the UN has already been taken over by the People's Republic of China [PRC]," Kuan said.

The international community would, therefore, be "unable to support our bid to join the UN if we continue to use the name `Republic of China,'" she said.

Using the name "Taiwan" for the nation's UN membership bid does not necessarily mean that the country has to change its official title, she said.

"For example, the names that Switzerland and Macedonia use at the UN are different from their official country names," she said.

As well as promoting the DPP's version, Kuan urged everybody to vote for both parties' versions.

She said that since it has always been the government that is seeking to join the UN, "our voice is sometimes considered a minority voice and we are sometimes regarded as a `trouble maker.'"

The public, therefore, should voice their opinion through the referendums, she said.

"If the people support the referendums and pass them, it will be the first time that we as a people have expressed our wish to join the UN," Kuan said.

Kuan also told voters who are in favor of unification with China that the nation's membership in UN would not kill any chance of unification.

"North and South Korea are good examples," Kuan said. "In fact, if both Taiwan and the PRC were UN members, we'd be on an equal footing, and it would facilitate our unification negotiations."

Francis Kan (甘逸驊), an assistant research fellow at National Chengchi University, who represented the KMT, argued that the DPP's referendum would hurt the nation.

"Many countries, including the US, the European Union [sic], France, Germany and Britain have officially condemned Taiwan's attempt to seek UN membership using the name `Taiwan,'" he said. "Instead of helping Taiwan's UN membership bid, the [DPP] referendum is doing just the opposite."

Kuan warned that because so many countries had expressed their opposition, the DPP's move may "threaten Taiwan's security."

He further promoted the KMT's version, saying that it would render more "flexibility and tolerance to Taiwan's UN membership bid," and it would be "easier for our own people to reach a consensus."

While leaving the name flexible, "we can try to convince countries that are friendly to us to support our bid," he said.
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