Comparing the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) China policy under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the party’s current policy is hard because of the rapidly changing dynamics of international politics, but there is no doubt that cross-strait policy during the Chen era was more than “eight lost years,” as some say, DPP members and academics said yesterday.
“The years between 2000 and 2008 were not lost years, but eight legendary, glorious years,” You Ying-lung (游盈隆), deputy executive director of the DPP’s think tank, told a forum in Taipei.
The forum, focused on the DPP’s China policy during Chen’s years in office and the party’s winning strategy in the 2016 presidential election, was organized by the Ketagalan Foundation, which was founded by the former president.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
You, who served in the DPP administration as vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, praised Chen as a pragmatic idealist, a practitioner of de jure independence and a leader who dared to confront Beijing and Washington to safeguard the nation’s interests.
Chen, who is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption charges, extended olive branches to China before July 2002, but dramatically changed his cross-strait policy after Beijing humiliated him by establishing diplomatic ties with Nauru, a former Taiwan ally, on the day he was sworn in as DPP chairman, You said.
Determined to walk his own path after that, Chen proposed the “one country on each side” initiative, holding several national referendums and staging discussions to write a new Constitution, You said.
While Chen’s legacy is debatable, the former president remains to this day the only DPP candidate to have won a Taipei mayoral election and two presidential elections, and has shown what it takes for to succeed politically, he said.
“The winning formula for a candidate is to be political and professional competent and have strong agenda-setting ability on cross-strait issues,” You said.
Meanwhile, Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), deputy executive director of the Taiwan Thinktank, challenged the “myths” that the triangular relationship between the DPP, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is important and the DPP’s China policy would be the “last milestone” the DPP had to cross to return power.
Overemphasizing the relationship is flawed because, while DPP-CCP talks are welcome, the administrations of Chen and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) were still able to facilitate negotiations without “the political foundation” of the so-called “1992 consensus,” he said.
The last milestone for the DPP’s quest to return to power is not its China policy, but the feasible policy options it proposes for developing the national economy and trade to places outside of China, such as the ASEAN countries or India, Lai said.
“The last milestone for the DPP is freeing cross-strait policy of CCP-KMT domination,” Lai added.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese