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President says he has no power to revoke referendum initiative

ROC Central News Agency

2007-12-13 19:08:14

    Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian reiterated during a recent media interview that a referendum on applying to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan will take place as planned, despite strong opposition from the United States and China.

    Making the remarks during an interview with Germany's Die Zeit weekly, Chen said the referendum was "initiated by the people" according to their constitutional rights and that he has no power to reject or revoke the initiative because he is "not an emperor, "according to a transcript of the interview released Thursday by the Presidential Office.

    Chen said Taiwan attaches great importance to U.S. concerns over the issue and will continue communicating with Washington to try to sort out their differences. "But the U.N. bid referendum must be held. It is impossible for us to backpedal and scrap the plan," he said.

    Noting that the "four noes" pledge made in his 2000 inaugural address was based on the prerequisite that "China has no intention of using force against Taiwan, " Chen said this prerequisite is non-existent, given that the number of missiles deployed by China targeting Taiwan has increased from 200 in 2000 to 988 at present.

    Chen said the world should not expect Taiwan's people to keep quiet just because China is intimidating Taiwan with its military might. "The most powerful weapon to protect Taiwan is not missiles or armored vehicles but democracy, special direct democracy such as referendums," Chen said.

    He said the United States and Europe should not try to restrict Taiwan's democratic development for the sake of their own interests in China and he added that he was deeply impressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's insistence on meeting Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, disregarding Chinese pressure.

    According to Chen, the greatest problem with the Chinese leadership is its lack of courage to face up to the true public opinion in Taiwan, mistakenly believing that everyone in Taiwan supports the "one China" principle, accepts ultimate unification with China and is not opposed to Taiwan becoming part of the People's Republic of China.

    Chen said China's suppression and intimidation of Taiwan are pushing Taiwan farther and farther away from China.

    For example, while only 30 percent of the people in Taiwan identified themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese in 2000, the ratio has soared to 70 percent this year, he noted.

(By Y.F. Low)