Wednesday, May 02, 2007

DPP PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL TALKS ON RE-POSITIONING A GLOBAL TAIWAN

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu, who is seeking the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) nomination to run for the next presidency, told CNA Wednesday in an extensive interview that it is important for Taiwan to re-position itself and that she looks forward to leading Taiwan onto a global stage.

"Taiwan needs to define and re-position itself in a historical context, as well as in its relationship with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. Taiwan will never be able to walk out of the mire of independence versus unification with China without re-positioning itself accurately, " she said.

Taiwan became de jure independent March 23, 1996, the day of Taiwan's first direct presidential election, she claimed, saying that she will push for normalization of the country, which includes the campaign to change the names of companies with the word China in the title and to replace the Constitution, instead of being trapped in the debate of independence versus unification.

Lu, who attended Harvard Law School and devoted herself to constitutional study, said that it would be very difficult to amend the Constitution under current regulations.

"In the long term, we need to launch a comprehensive and complete constitutional education for Taiwan citizens. The second step would be drafting the framework of a new constitution with help from professional scholars, " she said, adding that the constitutional system of Japan and the U.S. might not be suitable for Taiwan.

Instead, Taiwan can learn from a number of welfare countries in Northern Europe, such as the Netherlands, whose backgrounds, territorial sizes and populations are similar to Taiwan, Lu said.

With her experience in participating in international affairs, Lu went on, she will be able to march with Taiwan onto the global stage.

"I am determined to make Taiwan a 'global Taiwan', instead of 'China's Taiwan' or 'Taiwan's Taiwan', " she said, reiterating her vision for Taiwan while referring the perspectives of her DPP counterparts and Ma Ying-jeou, who is expected to be the nomination of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for the 2008 presidential
election.

In terms of relations with China, Lu advocated a "3CO" policy that Taiwan will seek co-existence, co-operation and co-prosperity with China.

She said Taiwan should keep cultivating its high-tech and develop a cultural creative industry to embrace the "new economy" in the age of globalization.

As the DPP presidential primary drew to a close, Lu also lamented the lack of fair competition in the campaign. Lu is the only female in the four-man field, which also includes Premier Su Tseng-chang, former DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former Premier Frank Hsieh.

The DPP will by May 12 at the earliest determine its candidate for the election. The presidential primary's public opinion poll will take place from May 9-11 and will account for 70 percent of the score in determining who will represent the party, with the other 30 percent accounted through a vote by party members
May 6.