Jan 31, 2006

Taiwan: Lawmaker Warns Referendum Could Trigger Attack from China


Chinese leaders have warned several times that if Taiwan revises its constitution, it will give Beijing the cause to use force against Taiwan to prevent Taipei from going independent
Taipei - A Taiwan lawmaker warned on Monday that if President Chen Shui-bian holds a referendum to amend the constitution amendment, it could give China an excuse to attack Taiwan.

'Holding a referendum on amending the constitution will give China the reason to attack Taiwan. When that happens, the US will keep its hands off Taiwan,' Su Chi, an oposition KMT party lawmaker, told reporters.

Su said that abolishing the National Unification Council, which Chen also suggested on Sunday, maybe is not a grave issue. 'But it's better to keep it than abolishing it,' he said.

On Sunday, Chen said he was considering abolishing the National Unification Council and the Guidelines for National Unification, applying to rejoin the United Nations in the name of Taiwan and drafting a new constitution and putting it to referendum next year.

The current Taiwan constitution says Taiwan's name is the Republic of China (ROC) and ROC's territory covers all of China. China suspects Chen wants to seek de facto independence for Taiwan by changing Taiwan's title and redefining ROC territory in the revised constitution.

Chinese leaders have warned several times that if Taiwan revises its constitution, it will give Beijing the cause to use force against Taiwan to prevent Taipei from going independent.

Chen's statement dropped a political bombshell in the Taiwan Strait because the three steps will push Taiwan further away from China and bring it closer to independence.

The statement is especially sensitive because Chen made it on the first day of the Chinese New Year, thus making it like a policy statement for 2006.

The Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily reacted in an editorial Monday, warning that 'great and complicated changes' have occurred in Taiwan and Taiwan independence forces have become the biggest obstacle to the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.

The editorial urged mainlanders and Taiwanese to unite in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity and fight for the sacred cause of national reunification.

Source: M&C News