A senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member yesterday lashed out at party members calling for a freeze to the party charter’s Taiwan independence clause, saying it would alienate the party from society.
Former party chairman Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said he despises the few who pander to China by calling for the clause’s suspension.
On June 19, former DPP legislator Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南) initiated the call to freeze Article 1 of the party’s charter — commonly known as the Taiwan independence clause, which calls for the “establishment of an independent state known as the Republic of Taiwan” — saying it has served its purpose in history and is now detrimental to the party.
Yao said that the nation is experiencing a resurgence of anti-China sentiment and those who are demanding that the party go against these expectations would create a rift between the party and the population.
Citing its history, Yao said the DPP has always been against unification with China and that the party’s pro-independence ideals are what have drawn the public to it.
He added that the party’s support rating has dropped because it has been avoiding advocating Taiwanese independence.
The Sunflower movement in March shows that public resistance to China and society’s unwillingness to be unified with China remain strong, Yao said.
The movement occupied the Legislative Yuan in Taipei from March 18 to April 10 to demonstrate opposition to the government’s handling of the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement.
It is strange that there are a few in the party who are clamoring for the clause to be suspended and urging that the party abandon its quest for an independent Taiwan, Yao said.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had made the same suggestion in December last year, but was forced to put it aside because of strong opposition to the idea, he added.
Yao said he was not insinuating that Ker was behind the movement, but he knows that there are a select few behind it.
He added that such an action would go against the public will.
“They say the DPP should alter its China policy to help the party regain power in the presidential election in 2016, but I cannot agree,” he said.
“We lost the 2012 elections because the DPP did not bravely stress its claims on Taiwanese independence and had disappointed its supporters,” he said.
Yao added that he suspects that Chen and others who favor the freeze have an ulterior motive, and if they “go too far” in pushing the idea at the national party congress on July 20, he would speak out in rebuttal.
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