Initiators of the controversial proposal to freeze the Taiwan independence clause in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) charter yesterday said that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) reserving the proposal for future discussion was a “wise decision.”
“[Tsai’s handling of the proposal] was good for the party... I respect her move. It was a wise decision,” former DPP legislator Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南), who drafted the proposal with former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮), told a radio interview hosted by Clara Chou (周玉蔻).
Citing time constraints, Tsai on Sunday sent all the proposals in the national party congress regarding the DPP’s China policy, including the widely discussed independence clause, to the party’s Central Executive Committee for future discussion.
The move drew brief protests from several members, but Chen was not one of them.
Prior to the party congress, Tsai said that the value that recognizes Taiwan’s identity and its independence is a “natural ingredient” embedded in the young generation and could not be frozen.
Chen described Tsai’s move as a “small victory” for the proposal, which has drawn a mixed reaction among DPP members, as well as several protests organized by independence supporters, because the chairperson did not unilaterally kill the proposition.
Chen said he had proposed to abolish the clause 14 years ago because Taiwan was already independent and sovereign, adding that the proposal was an attempt to “have the DPP face reality.”
Keeping the clause would only benefit the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) because it would be able to use it against the DPP, which “keeps saying that Taiwan is already independent, while on the other hand is seeking independence,” Chen said.
Kuo, who also attended the interview, urged DPP members not to misunderstand the proposal as an attempt to persuade the DPP to abandon its independence ideals, saying that the initiative has been more of an attempt to convince Washington of the DPP’s ability to deal with cross-strait relations rather than appealing to Beijing.
It would not be difficult for Tsai to put the proposal aside in the party congress, but she understood what it meant and made the decision to send it to the committee for thorough discussion, Kuo said.
Several independence advocates have said that it would be almost impossible for the proposal to be passed, with former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) saying that freezing the clause when the support rate for independence has surged in recent years “simply does not make sense.”
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its