Asia-Pacific News
Taiwan president vows to rewrite constitution
Jan 23, 2007, 15:50 GMT
Taipei- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, in a move that may anger China, vowed Tuesday to rewrite Taiwan's constitution to make Taiwan a 'normal' and 'complete' country.
Chen made the statement in an interview with CNN at his Presidential Office late Tuesday. CNN aired footage of the interview Tuesday, with the full interview to be aired Saturday.
Chen dismissed the corruption allegations against his family members, saying these were not only judicial but also political issues.
He believed the judicial procedure would vindicate him and his family, CNN said, noting that Chen's son-in-law has been sentenced to six years for insider trading.
Since he believes he can serve out the remaining year and a half of his second term, Chen said he hoped he could rewrite Taiwan's Constitution before he retires in May 2008.
'Chen thinks that Taiwan is not a normal or complete country because if it were normal and complete, it would already be a member of the United Nations or the World Health Organization,' CNN said.
China and Taiwan split since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and has warned that it would recover Taiwan by force if Taipei declares independence or if takes concrete steps to seek independence.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Taiwan is an independent country in real sense of this world. Nobody can determine the fate of Taiwan but its own perple. No matter what PRC said or propagandised, the democratic coutry will prosper and live forever. It is my wish PRC will become a democratic and peace loving country as well in the near futrue.
It's truly contradictory for china to claim that they are pursuing a peaceful rise while have 1000 missiles aimed at Taiwan!
The fact that Taiwan operates as an independent country for the past 55+ years is something that no one can deny. China will continue to blackmail Taiwan, but I believe it will eventually backfire on them!
The issue or Taiwan island is mroe complicated than most people thought. I think Chinese people on the island and the mainland should learn from Britain - the way it maintains the union between England and Scotland and Wales is examplary. As a peaceful solution, Taiwan should be entitled to what Scotish people enjoy at the moment, having their own Legislature while being part of China. Is it a good idea?
People needs to understand that Taiwan was treated as a 'normal country' and they were in the elite one of the five permanent members of UN as recent as October 1971. Had Chiang Kai Shek not withdrew from UN, Taiwan would most likely still be a UN member today. In that sense, we wouldn't even have issues regarding sovereignty.
The way I see it, even if Taiwan have the intention to reunite with mainland, they should still be a UN member today, very much like the situation in North and South Korea in which South Korea wants to eventually reunited with North. Drawing from this analogy, one must ask that if South Korea is UN member, why can't Taiwan join UN and WHO?
Comment to the person who mentioned that Taiwas was one of the permanent seat holders in the UN. That is correct. What is not correct is that Taiwan withdrew by itself. It is more like Taiwan was forced out by the other members, mainly the US, in favor of the 1.3 billion people on Earth. (Meanwhile, the US is currently Taiwan's biggest supplier of arms. How convenient.) That being said, the analogy with North and South Korea would not stand.
According to Wikipedia, ROC was not expelled. They were expelled from being a permanment member and can no longer represent 'China' since they were in Taiwan. But they can still be a regular UN member but chose not to do it. To me, Chiang committed a crime by isolating Taiwan to this day.
I personally would not use the word convenient about US being Taiwan biggest arm supplier. By not being a so called 'country' no other country would dare to sell weapons to Taiwan for fear of offending China. And that means that Taiwan always pay a multiple premium for all weapon purchases.
And if you really think about it, this so-called 'one china' doesn't really make sense. How come there was never a 'one korea' policy?
This world is never a fair place. We would be naive to believe we can make it such a place. Because China is so powerful and it becomes even more and more powerful day by day. The West has to co-exist with her for our own survival - it is simply impossible to isolate her or treat her like another Iraq. Therefore, in terms of our policy towards Taiwan island, we have to be pragmatic and accept the unavoidable reality that China will soon recover the island, just like what they did to Hong Kong. We can resit it and moan about it and yet we can't win in this case - that's why we have to accept 'One China' and pray for Chinese people and pray a peaceful reunion. This is the real world that we are win - if we can't beat them, join them.
This world is never a fair place. We would be naive to believe we can make it such a place. Because China is so powerful and it becomes even more and more powerful day by day. The West has to co-exist with her for our own survival - it is simply impossible to isolate her or treat her like another Iraq. Therefore, in terms of our policy towards Taiwan island, we have to be pragmatic and accept the unavoidable reality that China will soon recover the island, just like what they did to Hong Kong. We can resit it and moan about it and yet we can't win in this case - that's why we have to accept 'One China' and pray for Chinese people and pray a peaceful reunion. This is the real world that we are in - if we can't beat them, join them.
I think to recover Taiwan will prove to be a lot more difficult than people think. afterall, in a year or two, taiwan will have cruise missiles to attack the three major cities in mainland. It would then be wise for president chen draft the new constitution at that time. In addition, it would be naive for people to believe that Taiwan will be like Hong Kong since the majority of people in Taiwan believes Taiwan should be independent, according to the latest poll.
There is no doubt China is growing stronger everyday. But that's not the point. It's about right or wrong. It is right to give the 23 million people a recognition and a say in this increasingly complex world. This is a matter of principle, not power!
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robJan 23rd, 2007 - 18:04:41
Taiwan is very much an independent country already no matter what the PRC sais.
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