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Taiwan Approves Referendum Bill Despite China
Thu November 27, 2003 11:56 AM ET
By Alice Hung and Tiffany Wu TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -
Taiwan's parliament approved a watershed bill Thursday allowing its people to vote on sovereignty and other issues. But it risks the wrath of China, which has vowed to attack the island if it declares independence.
The complex referendum bill was passed in a parliament session that stretched late into the night Thursday. It has to be signed into law by pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian, a step seen as a formality.
China's state media said Chen was courting disaster for the island. A Chinese general spoke last week of possible war, and in the run-up to 1996 presidential elections, China threatened the island with war games.
Passing the bill is a mixed victory for the president, as it includes constraints from the opposition parties who together have a slim majority in parliament.
It is also a slap in the face to China ahead of Taiwan's presidential elections next March, when the issue of sovereignty is likely to take center stage.
Analysts and diplomats expect angry statements from China in coming days, but said the compromise bill -- which watered down some of the pro-independence camp's more strident demands -- reduced the risk of military retaliation from Beijing.
One Western diplomat in Beijing also pointed to the forthcoming trip to the United States by China's Premier Wen Jiabao as one reason for a measured Chinese response.
"Strong statements, yes, but with one eye on the U.S. I'm not sure that they will go beyond what we've seen so far," the diplomat said. "My sense is that prior to the visit by Wen Jiabao to Washington, I think we're going to get strident statements, yes, but nothing more yet."
CAMPAIGN FOR REFERENDUM LAW
Anti-independence opposition parties and pro-independence activists, who have campaigned for 10 years for a referendum law, haggled for hours over many of the bill's 56 clauses before it was approved.
Analysts said Beijing could take comfort from the fact that the most controversial part of the bill -- a clause explicitly saying referendums can be held on independence, on changing the island's name or flag -- was dropped.
Taiwan Approves Referendum Bill Despite China Thu November 27, 2003 11:56 AM ET
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Instead, the bill has a clause that says a "defensive referendum" on Taiwanese sovereignty is permitted in the event of an attack from China, and another more ambiguous article that allows referendums to approve changes to the constitution. "Maybe they will still want to show their discontent or unhappiness, and still criticize a little, but it shouldn't be out of control," said George Tsai of Taiwan's National Chengchi University, referring to China.
Beijing, which views the island as a renegade province, lashed out at the concept of a new constitution.
"The referendum plan on a 'new constitution' will not be tolerated by the Chinese people, including the compatriots in Taiwan," the official Xinhua news agency quoted an article due to run Friday in a key Communist Party newspaper as saying.
The bill's clauses range from the mundane, such as technical matters on holding a referendum, to issues that can be voted on.
The anti-independence opposition Nationalist and People First parties, who together hold 112 of parliament's 223 seats, claimed success in pushing through a clause that requires a committee to be set up to approve referendums on constitutional issues.
EACH PARTY REPRESENTED
The legislative committee will have representation from each party reflecting the ratio of parliamentary seats, and the opposition is unlikely to approve issues Beijing considers as steps toward independence, such as changing the island's name from the Republic China.
"The referendum bill will make all sides happy. It allows Taiwan people to directly exercise their rights. It's acceptable to international society and it will not provoke China," said Nationalist lawmaker Yao Eng-chi.
While the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which holds 88 seats, the most for any single party, had pushed hard for a referendum bill, it was disappointed by the restrictions imposed by the opposition.
"We have a defensive clause that can be used to demonstrate our sovereignty in the event of foreign threat," acknowledged DPP lawmaker Wang Tuoh.
Chen has enraged China by aggressively asserting his island is a separate country -- making that and a referendum on a new constitution the key pillars of his campaign for re-election on March 20, 2004
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
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