The Taiwan Statebuilding Party yesterday proposed constitutional amendments to clearly distinguish Taiwan and China as separate countries, and remove the goal of unification from the Constitution.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) said that the Constitution does not reflect the current reality and perpetuates a political deceit, as it divides the Republic of China (ROC) into a “free area,” which is Taiwan and its outlying islands, and a “mainland area.”
“The ROC government does not control China, and this falsehood that it represents China is still being claimed by politicians, and remains part of the school curriculum, which is teaching lies to our kids,” he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“I also support the ‘one China policy’ because there is a country called China, and another country called Taiwan,” he said. “This is why we need these amendments, to have a constitution for Taiwan, because like the majority of our citizens, I identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese.”
The party’s proposal focuses on five alterations to the Constitution, with the first to change the nation’s stated aim of “unifying the country” to creating a consensus among citizens for the “eventual establishment of a Taiwanese republic through a new constitution.”
Second, the “additional articles of the Constitution” should clearly define the “free area” as “Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and the outlying islands under Taiwan’s governance.”
Third, the “mainland area” should explicitly be defined as the People’s Republic of China, they said.
Fourth, the president should be required to report to the legislature every three years, to assess and address any need for constitutional amendments, and the legislature would be mandated with initiating the amendment process.
Last, the new constitution must require the government to push for transitional justice, they said.
“Right now, more than 80 percent of our citizens identify themselves as Taiwanese. This is why our party wants to help create a new constitution, to closely conform to people’s core values,” Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Chen Yi-chi (陳奕齊) said.
In many of the nation’s laws, the terms that define “free area” and “mainland area” are imprecise and open to interpretation, Chen said.
“But today with people identifying with Taiwan, and seeing China as a hostile country whose military aggression is threatening Taiwan’s existence, we must rewrite these definitions to clarify these terms,” he added.
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