Sun, Oct 05, 2003 page3

• Experts debate impact of Chen's bombshell

  DUD OR FLARE? At a seminar yesterday, one academic criticized the idea of rewriting the constitution as an empty shell, while another says it is a sign of things to come

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  The electorate remains largely unimpressed by President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call to rewrite the Constitution, which has created for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a lot of questions to answer, officials and academics said yesterday.

  Academics and officials from the ruling and opposition parties joined a seminar hosted by the Institute for National Policy Research to discuss issues that have emerged in the wake of Chen's announcement about the Constitution.

  Last Sunday, at a rally in Taichung marking the DPP's 17th anniversary, Chen said that he wanted the nation to push for a new Constitution in the year 2006.

  The next day, three of Taiwan's leading media outlets, two Chinese-language newspapers and a TV channel, conducted polls on the popularity of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮). At the same time, the polls surveyed the popularity of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and his running-mate, People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

  Emile Sheng (盛治仁), a political science professor at Soochow University, said that although the poll conducted by the TV channel showed the Lien-Soong ticket's popularity plummeting by 7 points, all three polls showed little growth in support for Chen.

  When major political events occur, the viewing rates of news channels usually increase sharply, Sheng said. However, a joint survey by all news channels found that on Sept. 29, the news channels' viewing rates did not rise -- despite the expected excitement over Chen's announcement, Sheng said.

  Sheng acknowledged that using media polls and TV viewing rates to measure to the public's reception of Chen's pronouncement might be a flawed approach.

  Still, Sheng believed the DPP has not accomplished what it hoped to achieved by creating such a potentially controversial issue.

  Sheng also criticized the DPP's whole idea of rewriting the Constitution as an empty shell that has no substance.

  But Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant research fellow at the Academic Sinica, said Chen's announcement about the Constitution has at least revealed a long-term agenda and goal for the DPP.

  The call also encouraged the DPP members to more deeply identify with their party, Hsu said.

  DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) vigorously defended his party's idea of rewriting the Constitution and promised that "details of how to carry out the mission of rewriting of the Constitution will come out step by step."

  Lin admitted Chen's remarks about the Constitution are "electoral language" but stressed that they are DPP policy.

  Rewriting the Constitution is one of the policies the DPP wishes to implement and Lin argued there is nothing wrong with the DPP's decision to make the policy known to the public a few months ahead of the presidential election.

  "The nature of democracy is to allow the public to choose the policies they like through the mechanism of elections," Lin said.

  Another issue the seminar focused on was how Chen's pronouncement would affect Taiwan's relations with China.

  Sheng, who just returned from a trip to China, predicted the cross-strait relations would remain virtually "frozen" until next year's presidential election.

  China will be careful not to reveal which presidential candidate it favors, but that does not mean it will not try to have a hand in Taiwan's election, Sheng said.

  "Beijing has now learned it will be easier to affect Taiwan's affairs through Washington's hands. Therefore, in dealing with its cross-strait relations, Taiwan should focus on its ties with the US rather than [disputes with] China," Sheng said.

  Hsu, however, pointed out that China might not appreciate too much the intervention of a third country in the cross-strait relationship, which it staunchly maintains is an internal affair.

  "I doubt how much China would tolerate the US getting involved in cross-strait affairs. If China gives the US too much room to operate in this arena, it might lose opportunities to speak on certain occasions," Hsu said.
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