May 18, 2005

Taiwan President Renews Call for New Constitution


Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian renewed his call for a new constitution, pledging to enshrine human rights in the document, a move likely to anger China that considers the island as part of its territory
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Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian renewed his call for a new constitution on Tuesday, pledging to enshrine human rights in the document, a move likely to anger China that considers the island as part of its territory.

Chen reiterated his support for a new constitution after his Democratic Progressive Party scored an unexpectedly strong victory in weekend elections for the National Assembly, an ad-hoc body formed to amend the current constitution.

'I will spare no effort in seeking a consensus among ruling and opposition parties, and support from all levels of society to successfully give Taiwan a timely and appropriate constitution before leaving office in 2008,' Chen said.

He said the new constitution would lower the voting age to 18 from 21, assure rights for aborigines and laborers, and give a constitutional basis to the government's Human Rights Committee.

Chen was speaking at a commemoration of the 54th anniversary of the first political prisoners to arrive at Taiwan's Green Island during the island's martial law era.

He had earlier back-pedalled on the issue to ease tense relations with opposition parties, saying he would amend the existing constitution rather than write a new one.

The newly elected National Assembly is set to decide on amendments that would allow a public referendum to approve a new constitution. However, analysts say the threshold for approval is almost impossibly high at 50 percent of eligible voters.

Constitutional re-engineering is a politically sensitive issue as Taiwan's constitution was written in China and brought to the island by the Nationalists in 1949, when they lost a civil war to the communists.

Beijing considers a new constitution to be tantamount to a dangerous push for statehood by Taiwan, even though Chen has repeatedly pledged that any changes would not involve a new name, territory, or other sovereignty issues.

The constitution states that Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China and its territory includes Taiwan, mainland China and Mongolia.

Source: SignOnSanDiego