Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) An official of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said national unification is not the only option for Taiwan and the concept should be adjusted to conform to mainstream values.
Yen Chien-fa, director of the DPP's Department of Chinese Affairs, made the remarks when he presented the result of a poll Sunday.
The poll showed that up to 90.5 percent of people in Taiwan do not agree with mainland China's statement that Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China and that it is not qualified to join the United Nations.
Some 72.9 percent of the people agreed with former President Lee Teng-hui's remarks that the Republic of China on Taiwan is a state, and not a province of the People's Republic of China; while 68.3 percent of those polled also said that the ROC should formally recognize the PRC as a country.
Yen said that experts and scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should pay attention to the results of the survey, which shows that people in Taiwan have not dramatically changed their opinions on this issue over the long term.
Lan Shih-chung, director of the DPP's Taipei City Chapter, said that the establishment of the National Unification Council was aimed at soothing those who are pro-unification during the rule of the Kuomintang, the former ruling party. He said that the council should not become the burden of the DPP, and that his party has long held that the operation of the NUC should be adjusted.
Both Yen and Lan said the NUC's operation should be changed to conform with the public's views, but they also added that the council should not be scrapped at the present stage.
The poll also showed that 50.7 percent of the people think that the ties between Taiwan and the mainland are "special state-to-state relations," while 27.7 percent of the people believe that they are "normal international relations."
Lin Yi-hsiang, deputy director of the KMT's Committee of Policy Coordination, said that the results of the poll conformed to similar surveys in past years.
The poll found that three months after President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration in May, 20.4 percent of respondents said they hope that the status quo can be maintained for now and the island be unified with mainland China later, 37.6 percent said they hope to keep the status quo and decide later whether to unify with the mainland or declare independence, and 12.6 percent said they hope to maintain the status quo permanently.
Compared with a survey conducted in January, two months before the presidential election, the ratio of supporters of a permanent status quo is slightly lower, while those who want a rapid unification or independence has increased slightly.
The poll also showed that 73.7 percent of the people think that President Chen's recent visit to six states in the Caribbean, Central America and West Africa was helpful to promoting diplomacy, and that 76.5 percent of the people believed the trip has not increased cross-strait tensions.
The survey was conducted by Trendgo Survey Research Center at the commission of the DPP's Taipei City Chapter between Aug. 24-25 on people above 20 years of age. Some 1,033 effective samples were collected with a margin of error of three percent, the DPP said. (By Lilian Wu)
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