The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday released a position paper to explain President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) remarks of Aug. 3, stating that a referendum would be merely an option to be held in reserve for use as a defensive measure, in the event of China pressing Taiwan to change its current status.
"President Chen made his remarks about passing a referendum law on the basis that the option to hold a referendum would be held in reserve as a defensive measure to prevent a change to the status quo," the paper states.
"Referendums are in line both with human rights and democracy. If, in the future, China presses the Taiwanese people to change the cross-strait status quo, on the basis of self-preservation, Taiwan's people should have the right to express their views via this mechanism," the statement says.
The MAC released the formal position paper after it had been approved at a weekly Cabinet meeting.
According to the paper, Chen's remarks were not aimed at immediately pushing for the move, but to call on the public to think seriously about the importance and urgency of passing a referendum law.
The paper justified Chen's remarks as a response to Taipei's growing sense that national security is endangered by China's continued rejection of cross-strait talks and the growing level of misunderstanding between the two sides.
"Taiwan will not compromise in the face of serious military threats from China," the paper says.
In addition, in the meeting, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (
"Although on Monday the stock market dropped 284 points, this morning the index rose more than 100 points, which shows that the index's behavior can be attributed to psychological factors rather than pragmatic ones," Lin said.
Meanwhile, China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS, 海協會) yesterday released a written statement condemning Chen's Aug. 6 comments, in which he said that an accurate summary of his Aug 3. remark that there is "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait, would be "the two sides enjoy parity in sovereignty" (主權對等論).
An unnamed ARATS official said that although Chen intended to use "parity in sovereignty" to replace the statement of "one state on either side of the Taiwan Strait," his ambition of leading the island toward "Taiwan Independence" is clear.
The ARATS's statement, reported by China's state-run China Central Television (CCTV) and official Xinhua News Agency at noon yesterday, said that Chen's remarks would "jeopardize cross-strait relations and endanger the security of Asia-Pacific countries."
"Both `one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait' and `parity of sovereignty' contain ambitions toward Taiwan independence which cannot be tolerated," the statement read.
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