Former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) is hoping the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), of which he is a member, will drop its pursuit of de jure independence if it returns to power next year.
In an interview for a new book about top members of the DPP and future cross-strait relations, Hung said he hoped that the party would announce ahead of next January’s presidential election that it “will not pursue de jure independence” should it regain power.
The book, partly compiled by National Chengchi University professor Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), features interviews with senior DPP members and legislators, mayors and county commissioners on their views and suggestions for the DPP’s China policy.
Hung, who served as foundation chairman from 2007 to 2008 when the DPP was in power, called for the party to produce a new resolution to replace the current one that emphasizes Taiwan’s independence from China.
Hung said the adoption of a new “Republic of China Resolution” would result in changes to the Normal Country Resolution and be a test of the party’s leadership and show how mature the party is.
He said the party is facing several challenges, including a controversy over President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) free economic pilot zones proposal, which DPP lawmakers have blocked in the legislature.
Hung said he wondered if DPP mayors and county commissioners will have reached a consensus on the project by next year, as seven of the eight planned zones are in cities or counties governed by the DPP.
Another challenge will be how the party deals with China, because the party is divided on the existence of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The consensus, a backbone of the Ma administration’s China policy, refers to a supposed tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both Taiwan and China acknowledge there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.”
Former National Security Council secretary-general Su Chi (蘇起) admitted in 2006 that he had made up the term in 2000, before the KMT handed power over to the DPP.
The DPP also lacks political mutual trust with China, Hung said.
He said the party should hold talks with China and the US before next year’s presidential election to reach a new consensus on which the DPP can base its cross-strait policy when it takes power again.
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