If the nation is to ratify a new constitution, it must first end any illusions about the current document’s relevance to Taiwan, an academic told a forum in Taipei yesterday.
For the constitutional revisionist movement to succeed, it needs public enthusiasm, the right timing and a clear plan of action, Chung Yuan Christian University associate professor Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) told attendees at the event titled “Imagining a New Constitution for a New Era,” which was organized by the National Taiwan University Graduate Student Association.
The Constitution exists under the “one China” framework and has little relevance to Taiwan, Hsu said, adding that there have been calls to rewrite it for more than 40 years, but such social movements take time.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
As a constitution is a highly political document that is deeply connected to a nation’s character, it must be considered when diagnosing political ailments and when imagining what kind of a country its people wish to have, he said.
Therefore, Taiwanese must become familiar with the Constitution, but at present, it is disconnected from people’s daily lives, he said, adding that if people truly want a new nation, drafting a new constitution is imperative.
Hsu said that reformers should focus on two key aspects: the Constitution’s “one China” framework and transforming governance.
Considering Taiwan’s precarious status, the “one China” framework is intertwined with Chinese aggression, yet has little to do with Taiwan itself, he said, adding that drafting a new Constitution could help the nation diagnose its political challenges and implement reform.
However, most important is how Taiwanese view their relationship with China, Hsu said.
For example, Hsu said that he still has students who think that the Shanxi and Yunnan provinces are part of the Republic of China, so to illustrate the problem, he asks them how the government should tackle crime in those regions.
Breaking this illusion of affiliation is difficult, but as Chinese aggression rises, so does Taiwanese consciousness, he said.
People’s lives have become more connected to this land, Hsu said, adding that he is optimistic about the future, as Taiwanese would have the chance to decide for themselves.
Hsu, who also serves on the executive committee of the Civil Alliance to Promote Constitutional Reform, has twice before participated in constitutional reform movements.
During the Sunflower movement, Hsu petitioned to convene a constitutional convention. After the 2016 presidential election, the alliance proposed four priorities for constitutional reform: lowering the voting age to 18, lowering the threshold for constitutional referendums, reforming the apportionment of legislator-at-large seats and revising the human rights clause.
RISK FACTORS: ‘We hope people can cooperate and endure it ... it is possibly the very important last mile,’ Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations are to remain the same next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The center reported 42,112 new local COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths, saying that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped to a new low this month. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that the center is keeping COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations the same due to the local virus situation, and an increase in the number of imported cases of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2, among other risk factors. Easing
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
DAMAGE CONTROL: The KMT in a statement called the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters,’ after Alexander Huang said China had the right to claim it as internal waters Lawmakers and experts yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正) of acting as China’s stooge, after he said that Beijing has the right to claim waters beyond its maritime territory as its exclusive economic zone and that the US has no legal basis to assert that the Taiwan Strait is an “international waterway.” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in an online post that most of the world considers the Strait an international waterway, adding that this is important for safeguarding Taiwan. “We have seen US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait.
The Taichung District Court yesterday sentenced to nine years in prison an unlicensed judo coach who caused the death of a seven-year-old student after slamming him onto the ground more than a dozen times. In its decision against the coach, a man surnamed Ho (何), the court cited his lack of remorse for using excessive force against an inadequately trained child and his failure to reconcile with the parents for his role in their son’s death. Speaking on behalf of the boy’s mother, Taichung City Councilor Jacky Chen (陳清龍) said the family would appeal to a higher court. Prosecutors said that Ho on