Transcript: Post Interview With Taiwan's Leader

Moreover, Taiwan's people have never demanded that the government of Taiwan treat cross-strait unification as the ultimate objective of the country. Of course, neither have the majority of Taiwan's people consented that Taiwan's government regard unification as the only and the final choice for how cross-strait relations should develop. If the international community applauds Taiwan's democratic development, then it should respect the freedom of Taiwan's 23 million people to choose and their resulting choice. The great majority, more than 80 percent, of Taiwan's people clearly expect, hope, and are pushing for Taiwan's admittance to the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

UN Resolution 2758 only dealt with the representation of the 1.3 billion people of China in the United Nations, but not the representation of the 23 million people of Taiwan in that world body. Taiwan has been very humble and has made concessions in attempting to join the World Health Assembly as an observer under the name Taiwan Health Entity. After nine years, however, our wish has yet to come true. Similarly, every September for each of the past 13 years, we have tried to present our case for representation at the United Nations before the General Assembly. We want to become a member of the big UN family. Although the 23 million people of Taiwan have a burning desire to participate in the international community, we have been excluded and suppressed because of China.

Take East and West Germany for example. Before unification, both were represented in the United Nations. That fact, however, did not affect the subsequent unification of Germany. By the same token, North and South Korea are both members of the United Nations, but this does not affect their desire to be eventually unified. China's approach to Taiwan's foreign policy has been composed of trying to uproot, block, and squeeze Taiwan. Taiwan has been excluded from the United Nations and the World Health Assembly due to this, to our deep regret. Any nation can choose not to establish formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but no country can deprive Taiwan's 23 million people of their basic rights and free will to participate in international society. To better facilitate governance as well as to enhance our national competitiveness, we need to review those parts of our Constitution that are not timely, relevant, or viable, and it is only natural for a democratic country to revise its constitution.

The current Constitution of Taiwan was enacted half a century ago in mainland China, and the 23 million people of Taiwan did not participate in the process of drafting this constitution. Similarly, even though this Constitution came into effect more than 50 years ago, the long period of martial law in Taiwan, and the fact that Taiwan for a long time was under the special statutes governing the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion, this Constitution was not actually put into practice. When Lee Teng-hui was president of Taiwan, he presided over six revisions of the constitution in 12 years; none of these revisions, however, was done with the consent of the people of Taiwan.

On June 7 last year, we completed our first stage of constitutional reforms by abolishing the National Assembly and also incorporating in our constitution the concept of referendum. This means that draft versions of the constitution proposed by the Legislative Yuan must be approved of by the 23 million people of Taiwan via national referendum. Next we will produce a new constitution. No matter whether this process is called revising the existing Constitution or drafting a new constitution, everything must conform to the constitutional procedures now in place. This is to say, a proposed constitutional change or even a new version of the constitution must first be approved in the Legislative Yuan by a three-quarters majority of a quorum of at least three-quarters of the total number of legislators, which is a high threshold, and then be subjected to the approval of the people of Taiwan via a referendum. We have a very strict rule concerning a national referendum on constitutional reform. For constitutional reforms to pass, more than half of the eligible voters must cast a ballot, and more than half of the valid votes must support those changes. That means any sensitive issue related to sovereignty, such as a change to the name of the nation, a change to the national territory, or a change to the national flag has to abide by very strict constitutional procedures currently in place. Under such a strict rule, on the one hand we are further consolidating and deepening Taiwan's democracy, while on the other hand we have shouldered our responsibility to defend peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Everybody can rest assured, therefore, that the process and final outcome of bringing forth Taiwan's new constitution will not be accomplished through revision or formulation by one political party or one individual. If proposed constitutional changes do not have the support of all political parties, both ruling and opposition, they will not possibly be passed by the Legislative Yuan.

Similarly, if political parties or factions in the Legislative Yuan, for their own self-interest, try to make compromises and secret pacts, it would be impossible for constitutional reforms to pass a national referendum. This is especially true right now in Taiwan, as the pan-blue and pan-green camps are of approximately equal strength. Therefore, it would be impossible for either camp to dominate the final outcome of a national referendum. In order for constitutional reforms to be passed in a referendum, the valid votes in favor of the constitutional reform must exceed half of the number of citizens of Taiwan eligible to vote. Therefore, any reform must be able to transcend the differences between the pan-blue and pan-green camps and between political parties. The constitutional reform process is a part of Taiwan's efforts to consolidate and deepen its democracy. It deserves the encouragement, affirmation, and support of the international community.

Q.Just to make doubly sure that I understand what you said, the subjects you mentioned are sensitive subjects: questions of sovereignty, such as of territory, of the flag, of the name of Taiwan. Do you expect, as the President, for you are the person initiating them, do you expect them to be part of the constitutional revision that you envisioned?

A: Taiwan is a democratic nation and a pluralistic society. As President, I do not have the right to prohibit the expression of people's opinions. Just as in the case in which the National Unification Council ceased to function and the Guidelines for National Unification ceased to apply, we do not exclude any possibility for the future of Taiwan and any possible form the development of cross-strait relations may take. We should not exclude independence as one of the options nor should we exclude unification as a possible choice. Similarly, we should not make Taiwan independence the only choice, nor should we make unification the only choice. Regarding which version to use for our new constitution, whether it is to adopt the presidential system, cabinet system, dual-executive system, or current system, this should be decided by the people. In the same light, we should adopt an open attitude regarding these sensitive issues of whether to change the national moniker, national territory, or national flag. Whatever opinion, proposal, or version must pass the high threshold of three-quarters approval by members of the Legislative Yuan, as well as of the people through referendum. In other words, any sovereignty issue that does not follow due constitutional process will not be dealt with. In other words, without passing the high threshold of three-quarters of the Legislature, even should we want to change the national moniker, national territory, or national flag, we would not have the right nor position to have these issues circumvent the Legislature and hand them to the people for referendum. That is why, in the fourth point in the seven-point statement I made on February 27 regarding the NUC ceasing to function, I dealt with the issue of the future procedures for constitutional reform.

Q. Any subject is open but given the procedure, some subjects are probably not practical? Is that correct?

A: I believe that so long as one understands Taiwan's procedures for constitutional reform, one can be assured that we would abide by due procedure for constitutional reform, and you should believe me and rest assured. Consequently, we must wait until society is mature enough, with sufficient support from the people and the approval of the Legislature. Only then can we possibly deal with these sensitive issues regarding sovereignty.