UNIFICATION OUT:Pan-green legislators and a pro-independence group want to remove ‘unification’ from the Additional Articles of the Constitution
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Pan-green lawmakers put forward a proposal to amend the Constitution to remove unification-related wording amid a controversy surrounding the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) new “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” concept.
The legislators unveiled their proposal, which would also enshrine the right to referendum into the text, at a press conference where they were backed by the pro--independence Taiwan Society.
“The Constitution should evolve over time and should be adjusted according to the needs of national development,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.
The controversial “one country, two areas” concept, raised by former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing on Thursday, has been described by local politicians as making concessions and jeopardizing Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The root of the controversy lies in the Constitution and its Additional Articles, which contain the word “unification” and implies it is the country’s long-term goal, Lee said.
In the Additional Articles of the Constitution, “to meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification” is written in the preface, while China is listed as “the Chinese mainland area” and Taiwan as “the free area” in Article 11.
The KMT cited those passages as the basis of its proposal.
The articles were amended in 1991, when then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) doubled as KMT chairman and cross-strait relations were significantly different, Lee Ying-yuan said.
“With the current threshold to initiate an amendment, we know this will be a very difficult task, but we have to give it a try,” he said.
According to the additional -articles, constitutional amendments must be initiated by a quarter of the legislature and passed by at least three-quarters of the members present at a meeting that is attended by at least three-quarters of the total number of legislators. The amendments must then be sanctioned by a referendum within six months with the threshold of half of the total number of voters.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said since the legislature is the only Constitution-making body because the National Assembly was disbanded in 2005, a constitutional amendment committee should be established in the legislature.
Society president Wu Shu-min (吳樹民) said that while he prefers a new constitution, amending the Constitution is likely the only solution.
Reached for comment, People First Party caucus convener Thomas Lee (李桐豪) said he did not think Lee Ying-yuan’s proposal was the most urgently needed amendment.
Additional reporting by Tseng Wei-chen