Taipei Times
Date: Nov 28, 2017
By: Chung Li-hua and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday proposed amendments to remove references to “national unification” from the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
The amendments were sponsored by DPP legislators Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) and others in the party.
The draft amendments would affect several parts of the act, including Article 1, which states: “This act is … enacted for the purposes of ensuring security and public welfare … before national unification,” they said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in her inaugural address on May 20 last year pledged to helm the nation’s cross-strait policy within the confines of the act and the Constitution.
When asked whether changing the act could have diplomatic ramifications, Su said that Taiwan is entitled to make its own decisions as a sovereign and independent nation.
“The Constitution protects citizens’ right to choose a national identity. The law should not use biased or presumptuous language to impose a specific national identity on the citizens,” Su said. [FULL STORY]