Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday proposed amendments to remove references to “national unification” from the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
The amendments were sponsored by DPP legislators Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) and others in the party.
The draft amendments would affect several parts of the act, including Article 1, which states: “This act is ... enacted for the purposes of ensuring security and public welfare ... before national unification,” they said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in her inaugural address on May 20 last year pledged to helm the nation’s cross-strait policy within the confines of the act and the Constitution.
When asked whether changing the act could have diplomatic ramifications, Su said that Taiwan is entitled to make its own decisions as a sovereign and independent nation.
“The Constitution protects citizens’ right to choose a national identity. The law should not use biased or presumptuous language to impose a specific national identity on the citizens,” Su said.
Multiple polls have shown that the public wants Taiwan to become a “real” nation and his proposal is aimed at bringing the issue to the fore, he said.
“We appreciate the nation’s precarious diplomatic situation and that the government is dealing with difficult challenges, but we have to confront our problems and should not limit our response to maintaining the ‘status quo,’ especially in light of China’s relentless persecution of Taiwan,” Su said.
“I hope we can let the world hear the voice of Taiwanese through the legislative amendment process,” he said.
However, Su said that he is uncertain about the proposal’s chances of passing a committee review.
Huang said Taiwan is a free and democratic nation where people are free to subscribe to various ideologies, and the law should not impose an ideology on the public.
Although the preamble to the Additional Articles of the Constitution explicitly refers to “national unification,” it is unnecessary to repeat the wording in other laws and striking out the phrase should not be a constitutional issue, Huang said.
Another proposed amendment would forbid Chinese from engaging in activities that are detrimental to Taiwan’s national security while they are in Taiwan, the lawmakers said.
A separate proposed amendment would require former Taiwanese who gave up their citizenship while in China to reapply for Republic of China citizenship before returning to Taiwan, they said.
The proposed amendments are aimed at fighting Beijing-backed political agitation conducted by Chinese or former Taiwanese, the lawmakers said.
The Mainland Affairs Council said it respects the lawmakers’ authority to legislate and it might discuss their proposals in a legislative session in a bid to form a consensus.
The council is in the process of reviewing the nation’s laws and regulations to counter Chinese efforts aimed at undermining Taiwan’s security and national interests, it added.
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