The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should merge their referendum proposals on the nation's bid to join the UN to maintain the validity of a referendum, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
Lu told reporters she had held private consultations with many opposition camp leaders on the idea and many of them agreed with her.
The DPP proposal suggests the nation should apply to join the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT proposal calls for a return to the UN using the nation's official title "Republic of China."
It would "do great damage to the nation" if both of the proposals failed to gain the support of half of [the nation's eligible] voters, Lu said, referring to the threshold set in the Referendum Law (公民投票法).
Lu has been criticized by pro-independence supporters for similar previous remarks, but yesterday said her suggestion was "for the nation's own good."
Lu previously suggested that the two proposals should be merged and the question of joint referendum be amended to "whether you agree that Taiwan should be granted entry to the UN."
"I personally support holding a referendum on the issue and using `Taiwan' as the name, but we should put aside the controversy over which name should be used if it would cause both referendums to fail," Lu said.
Ensuring success should be the first priority, Lu said, urging politicians to leave the problem of the name to be used to the next president.
In response to Lu's remarks, KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would welcome the DPP's support for the KMT's version of the referendum.
"The government's failed attempts to join the UN shows that we have to take a more flexible approach. I would welcome the DPP should it join the KMT's efforts to push for UN membership in a flexible and practical way," Ma said.
Ma argued that the KMT's referendum bid gave the government the flexibility to adopt a more practical method to apply for UN membership, which would be more likely to succeed.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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