Sat, Jan 31, 2004 page3

• DPP has high hopes for referendum

  IMPLICATIONS OF VOTE According to Chiou I-jen, the referendum has already achieved its goal of promoting international awareness of Beijing's missile threat

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Secretary General of the Presi-dential Office Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) has reaffirmed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is confident that it would realize Taiwan's first referendum, saying that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will ultimately benefit from the referendum issue in the presidential election.

  In an interview with Wealth Monthly magazine which is slated to be published next month, Chiou said that the referendum issue is still developing and that the DPP must cautiously evaluate all possibilities, especially the international reaction.

  "President Chen's peace referendum has raised concern about Taiwan's national security and China's military expansion in the international media," Chiou said.

  In response to opposition politicians calling the president's two referendum questions meaningless, Chiou said that the questions have been positively received by the international community.

  "The questions have achieved their primary goal of promoting awareness of China's missile threat, which cannot be taken for granted anymore," he said.

  Chen announced the proposed questions on Jan. 16.

  The first question is whether Taiwanese would approve of the government acquiring more advanced anti-missile weapons if China refuses to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan.

  The second is whether they want the government to engage in negotiations with China about the establishment of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-strait interactions.

  Chiou said that the second question has a bearing on four aspects of cross-strait negotiations.

  The first aspect includes fundamental problems concerning sovereignty, which is the most difficult and sensitive issue, but the one with the most potential for development, Chiou said.

  The second concerns cross-strait interactions, including direct air links, which would have implications for taxation, disease control, quarantine and crime control.

  The third aspect is related to military affairs, such as the acquisition of anti-missile weapons.

  The fourth aspect has to do with the establishment of a cross-strait negotiation mechanism.

  "Each category encompasses many issues to be dealt with. With fewer than 50 days left until the election, we believe that promoting debates on the referendum issues will encourage people to put their trust in the DPP," Chiou said.

  Noting that the referendum will have many other significant effects, Chiou said that it would create a national consensus to guide the new head of state after the March 20 election.

  "If President Chen wins his second term, Taiwan's government would be able to easily formulate goodwill policies to improve cross-strait relations based on the result of the referendum," he said.

  Commenting on the pan-blue camp's strategy for dealing with the referendum issue, he said that the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) major weakness is that it lacks a "core value."

  "The KMT has shifted its stance many times -- at first they said that the referendum was nonsense, and then they said that they wanted to pass the Referendum Law. They even advocated holding five referendums at one stage, but finally returned to opposition to the president's referendum idea," Chiou said.
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