Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) has called for changing the nation’s name to “the Republic of Taiwan” in his capacity as one of the three conveners for the party’s Constitutional Amendment Committee.
Yao and the other two conveners, DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the DPP, held preparatory talks yesterday, ahead of the inaugural meeting of the committee on March 31.
Yao told reporters that “the committee has its mission, and must follow guidance in the party’s charter, which calls for drafting a new constitution and amending the nation’s official name to ‘the Republic of Taiwan.’”
The charter also seeks to delineate the national territory under the government’s administration, he said.
However, Yao’s calls were tempered by the DPP leadership and the other conveners.
Ker said the party respects Yao’s views, but conditions have changed and other issues must be taken into consideration.
Ker also said that Yao has focused the committee’s work on “drafting a new constitution,” but DPP officials and other committee members see the work as “amending the Constitution.”
It is important to clarify this issue, he said.
Ker said the DPP charter originally had an independence clause that called for declaring a sovereign nation called “the Republic of Taiwan.”
However, this was modified during the 1999 DPP Congress in Kaohsiung, when “the resolution on Taiwan’s future” was added to the charter.
The resolution has been perceived as taking a softened stance on independence, by maintaining the current conditions under the framework of the Republic of China.
The DPP later amended its charter, so we have to follow historical developments, Ker said, adding that the issues and conditions are different from the past decades.
“The committee’s proposals, which would be forwarded to the legislature for deliberation, must take into account their feasibility and chance of success,” Ker said.
“Our committee’s proposals for amending the Constitution will be reviewed and discussed by other caucuses during cross-party negotiations,” he added.
“Although the committee has included members from different generations, and a diverse group of academics and experts are participating in the process, everyone will have to respect each other’s viewpoints and opinions when we start the official committee meetings,” Ker said.
Cheng said he is open to all proposals.
“The committee has not yet held its official meeting, so no decision is on the agenda yet, although the public has been discussing lowering the voting age, reducing the number of government branches, and making changes to election and constituency rules for lawmakers. We will take up an open attitude toward all of these issues, but we have to wait for the committee to finalize the agenda,” he said.
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