20031002

New history guidelines a good choice

By Liao Long-sheng

`Due to the nation's special political environment and history, we had ignored local history while leaning towards rigid education of a `greater China' ideology.'

The new guidelines for senior-high school history education -- which will soon be published by the Ministry of Education -- have raised doubts from scholars concerned about history education. These scholars have said that the guidelines present a politicized view of history crafted by former president Lee Teng-hui's "special state-to-state" model of cross-strait relations. Based on my years of contact with history pedagogy and experience in guiding Taiwan's senior-high-school history education, I have several suggestions.

The first major change under the guidelines is to make Taiwan's history a separate text, making it the first volume of senior-high school history textbooks to be taught in the first semester of the first year. Generally, the principle of history pedagogy is to start from the modern and work backward to the ancient. For years, the content of Taiwanese history has been scattered in the chapters and sections related to Chinese his-tory. Such content has been simplified and lacks consistency and completeness. In view of this a single Taiwanese history textbook would be more progressive and reasonable.

The current textbook has five sections about Taiwan during the Qing dynasty, which account for as much as 30 percent of the entire book. The political and social changes and economic and cultural development of Taiwan have been intricate and rich for the more than half of a century since World War II. But there are only four sections on this period, which account for fewer than one fourth of the whole book. This does not tally with the principle of "simplifying the ancient times and detailing the modern times," and should therefore be adjusted.

The second major change is that ancient Chinese history from the ancient periods to the early Ming dynasty will be taught later in the second semester. But modern Chinese history -- from mid-Ming onward -- will be merged into modern world history to be taught in the second year.

This change has raised doubts from the pro-unification camp -- which has voiced its suspicion that it is a move to eliminate "reference to the Republic of China [ROC]" from history textbooks, a move that "equals desinicization," and may cause "identity confusion."

In fact, interconnectedness of the world's major regions has increased. In order to develop a healthy and complete international view among citizens, the academics who compiled the pedagological guidelines had tried to integrate Chinese and world history with the past. But they eventually gave up due to the difficulties encountered in trying to compile a textbook and then integrate the guidelines in actual classrooms.

This time, the ministry's guideline committee chose to integrate the modern histories of China and the world at large, so students can compare and contrast as they go and broaden their horizons. It's a reform that deserves our recognition. People should not worry about Chinese history melding into world history.

Apart from the first-year senior-high course "The History of Ancient China" and four sections about China in the second-year modern world history course, there are another five sections partly related to the topic in the second-year modern world history. In addition, there is an elective course called "The History of Chinese Culture" for third-year students. Thus, Chinese history will take a large portion of the entire senior-high history education. Negative comments such as "desinicization" and "identity confusion" are exaggerated.

As for doubts that the ROC will soon disappear from the new history textbooks, this is indeed an issue for which we should show concern. The official name of the nation is still the ROC. But in the related chapters and sections, only two sections make mention of the ROC, and they have been excessively simplified indeed.

If we want our students to understand the threats the nation faces, and to think for the future of Taiwan's sustainable develop-ment, it's better for us to honestly face the ROC's 40-year history in China. The ministry should add more content to this part, and have a chapter entitled "the ROC."

In order to enhance teaching process and distinguish textbook content, a correct design is replacing ancient Chinese history with modern Chinese history in the second semester of the first year, so the former and the third-year course will not repeat. This tallies with the principle of "simplifying the ancient times and detailing the modern times," and will clear any doubt that "the ROC has disappeared."

Advanced countries that enjoy relatively progressive and open education systems no long take history education as a tool to cramming students with information. Instead, they now tend to develop a rational attitude, diverse concerns and the ability to think rather than indoctrinate a "nationalist consciousness."

Due to the nation's special political environment and history, we had ignored local history while leaning towards rigid education of a "greater China" ideology. Fortunately, Taiwan is now an open and democratic society.

Our history pedagogy should be able to return to the right track, so the nation's diverse ethnic groups can coexist and prosper as a gemeinschaft under rational history and culture learning and thinking.

In light of this development, perhaps those who worry about the reduction of Chinese history education should be more concerned about junior-high-school history education. After the Nine-Year Educational Program was implemented in 2001, Chinese-history education was dropped at elementary-school level, while the average class hours for junior-high history education dropped by almost 50 percent, to one hour per week.

Obviously, students can hardly absorb much or go very deep when learning the entire Chinese and world history. This is actually the real crisis of history education in this country.

Liao Long-sheng is the chairman of the department of history at National Taiwan Normal University.

DPP sets up Constitution group

LOOKING AHEAD: The party hopes the task force will help pave the way for a new Constitution in 2006, following a speech made by President Chen

By Chang Yun-Ping

STAFF REPORTER

Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chang Chun-hsiung yesterday said that the party would establish a task force to conduct a series of constitutional changes in response to President Chen Shui-bian's call for a new Constitution.

Chang said that the DPP would push for the adoption of a presidential system, a two-level government administration and oppose measures allowing the vice president to serve concurrently as the premier.

"The Presidential Office, the Cabinet and party headquarters have decided to set up a constitutional re-engineering task force before the next presidential election in a bid to present a new vision and blueprint for a new Constitution," Chang said yesterday at DPP headquarters. "This is a serious responsibility that no presidential candidate should dodge."

The task force would be led by Chang and Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen and invite experts to offer advice on constitutional reforms and other issues including: halving the number of legislative seats; adopting a two-vote system in a single electoral district; choosing between a presidential system and a Cabinet system; whether the president should be elected by a relative or absolute majority; whether the five-branch government system should be retained or replaced by a three-branch system; whether there should be a two-level or three-level government administration; whether the age of citizen rights should be lowered to 18 from the current 20; choosing between the draft system and a volunteer military; the right of confirmation of the premier; the realization of new concepts for human rights and concern for disadvantaged groups.

Chang said these issues would be addressed in Chen's presidential campaign. He also called on the pan-blue camp's presidential candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan, and his running mate, People First Party Chairman James Soong, to clarify their positions on the three main issues: choosing between a presidential or Cabinet system, the adoption of a two-level or three level government and whether the vice president can serve concurrently as the premier.

Vice President Annette Lu yesterday said Chen's proposal for a new Constitution reflects the DPP's long-term goal to pursue a new Constitution for Taiwan.

Lu said that since 1990, the DPP has proposed a Constitution draft based on the framework of England's Magna Carta. Since then, a number of different ideas for a new Constitution have been brought up, Lu said.

"It is a continuation of the DPP's endeavor for a new Taiwanese Constitution. People who were shocked at the president's call for a new Constitution were so because of insufficient understanding of the DPP's history," Lu said yesterday.

Lu also spoke on behalf of the president to reiterate that the new Constitution idea does not contradict the "five nos" promise Chen made in his 2000 presidential inauguration.

However, Lu said that the precondition for Chen's obeying of his "five nos" is that China should renounce the use of force against Taiwan.

"As China's military threat against Taiwan constantly increases, we don't have to overemphasize the `five nos' policy and use it to constrain President Chen," Lu said.

Diplomatic allies speak out on Taiwan's UN bid

FIRM SUPPORT: A number of the country's international friends addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and confirmed they support its joining the world body

CNA , NEW YORK

Seven more diplomatic allies voiced support for Taiwan's bid to join the UN at the 58th UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Speaking during the general discussion session, Palau Vice President Sandra Pierantozzi said the 23 million people of Taiwan -- who have elected their president through direct, popular election and have carried out a transition of power in a peaceful, democratic way -- deserve a voice in the UN equal to that of member nations.

Pierantozzi said Taiwan has contributed greatly to global anti-terrorism efforts in accordance with UN resolutions and has spared no efforts in offering humanitarian assistance to needy peoples around the world.

She said that Taiwan's battle against SARS underlined the fact that excluding a country doesn't benefit any country or its people.

Chadian Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum said it is regrettable that the World Health Organization did not offer timely help to Taiwan when the country was threatened by an epidemic at the height of the SARS outbreak earlier this year.

He said the people of Taiwan are entitled to lead a peaceful and democratic life and to sharing with other countries in the world.

Representatives of Belize, the Dominican Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Malawi and the Marshall Islands also spoke out at the general discussion session to voice support for Taiwan's bid, stressing the organization's principle of universality.

The Malawian envoy urged the UN authorities to grant Taiwan admission into the organization, arguing that Taiwan has and will continue to support UN efforts to enhance the well-being of the people of the world.

Noting that the Republic of China on Taiwan was a formal member of the UN between 1949 and 1971, Gambian Foreign Minister Barboucarr-Blaise Ismaila Jagne asked the UN authorities why the same ROC on Taiwan could not be a member now.

The passage of UN Resolution 2758 in October 1972 recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the sole representative of China in the organization.

Jagne said that the resolution does not solve the question of the representation of the people of Taiwan in the UN and that it has long been used to "rationalize an unreasonable situation."

Panamanian Foreign Minister Harmodio Arias suggested that the UN can serve as a place where the PRC and Taiwan can seek to resolve the problems that exist between them.

Meanwhile, Vice Premier Cyril Svoboda of the Czech Republic, with which the ROC does not have formal ties, expressed indirect support for Taiwan's UN bid by advocating the principle of universality of UN membership.

St. Christopher and Nevis Foreign Minister Timothy Harris called on the UN to pay attention to the contributions made by the ROC to the international community and to allow it representation in the world body.

The ROC abides by international law and is devoted to the promotion of international peace and development, even though it is not a UN member, Harris said, adding that admitting it into the organization would be in line with the best interests of the world community.

He urged the UN to try to remove all the possible hurdles that could block Taiwan's participation in international activities and its intention to contribute toward international development.

The KMT's questionable allegiance

Yesterday was the 54th National Day of the PRC. So far, media reports have shown no prominent Taiwanese businesspeople showing up at the celebrations, but there is no knowing whether they attended the events but kept a low profile or whether Chinese officialdom barred the media from reporting on the activities of any Taiwanese delegations.

In previous years pan-blue politicians and businesspeople went to China for the Oct. 1 festivities in droves, as if they were attending a temple fair for Matsu. The Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing used to be brimming with Taiwanese politicians and businesspeople around Oct. 1. China would highlight their presence in its domestic propaganda, saying the two sides of the Taiwan Strait shared the joy of the National Day and that both sides had the "motherland" in their hearts.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last week banned its politicians from attending Beijing's celebrations because it feared providing more ammunition for President Chen Shui-bian, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and others who say the KMT's heart is in China. The KMT appears to have struck a tacit agreement with Beijing regarding the dispatch of delegations to the National Day celebrations.

Given the joint KMT-People First Party (PFP) presidential ticket and the spiritual alliance between those parties and the remnants of the New Party, all pan-blue politicians will naturally cooperate with the KMT's election strategy. Apparently no pan-blue politician will show up at a high-profile event on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

This travel restriction stands in sharp contrast to the behavior of pan-blue politicians when there isn't an upcoming election -- then they are joining tour groups to China and visiting Chinese officials at the drop of a hat.

Political commentators have often noted that in the three years since the KMT lost power, many of the politicians who in the past had attended the Republic of China's (ROC) National Day celebrations in Taipei showed up in Beijing for the PRC's National Day celebrations instead. Ironically, it is Chen and the DPP that have held on to the empty shell of the ROC. Since 2000, come Double Ten Day, KMT Chairman Lien Chan and PFP Chairman James Soong have scrambled out into the mountains for a hike. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou gets busy jogging. No one in the pan-blue camp appears to care about the ROC anymore.

What's was even more ludicrous was that Ma prohibited the organizers of an international women's soccer tournament from flying the ROC flag during the games on grounds that the International Olympic Committee would not approve. Outraged pan-green camp supporters delighted in bringing small ROC flags in the games and waving them.

Now comes election time and the pan-blue camp are once again talking loudly about the ROC, while criticizing former president Lee Teng-hui for pushing for a name change and lashing out at Chen for calling for a new Constitution. The pan-blue camp cynicism regarding national identity is unparalleled.

Nevertheless, the KMT's travel ban indicates the party is well aware of China's unpopularity among the people of Taiwan -- if not outright loathing for the Beijing government. The KMT has been cozying up to Beijing for several years in the hope of using China's influence to shackle the DPP government and increase its own influence. Its willingness to cavort and conspire with Beijing shows how little it cares about Taiwan. All it cares about is regaining power and enriching its members.

Pan-blue legislators miss out on Chinese National Day fun

By Huang Tai-lin

STAFF REPORTER

Pan-blue legislators have stayed away from China's National Day celebrations, obeying their leaders' calls to protect the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) from accusations ahead of the presidential election that they are conniving with China.

"According to information we have from the national security network, there were no legislators from the pan-blue camp -- at least in an open, public fashion -- attending China's National Day this year," said Wu Jui-wen, office manager of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiang Chao-yi.

Chiang, along with DPP legislators such as Trong Chai and Lin Chin-hsing, are members of the Alliance Against Selling Out Taiwan. The alliance was formed to monitor interactions between the pan-blue camp and China.

In a press statement released by the alliance two weeks ago, it said that China had invited pan-blue-camp members to yesterday's National Day celebrations.

The statement said that the invitations were sent to people Beijing believed "had made contributions to the interests of China."

Wu said that, in the past, there were pan-blue legislators, such as former New Party legislator Elmer Feng, who openly publicized their attendance at the celebrations. But a KMT ban on its members visiting China, Hong Kong and Macao between now and next March's presidential election had been heeded.

The KMT issued the ban shortly after the alliance issued its statement on the invitations.

KMT legislative caucus leader Lee Chia-chin said that the notice was issued to reduce the chance of critics "defaming" the party and accusing it of collaborating with China to sell out Taiwan.

"While there was no public attendance from the pan-blue legislators this Oct. 1 in China, the alliance will continue to keep an eye on any interaction between the pan-blue camp and Beijing and will publicize our findings when there are any," Wu said.

"We think it is extremely inappropriate for any legislators from Taiwan to attend China's National Day celebration," said Wu. "However, we are not surprised that there are members from civil groups in Taiwan attending."

Wang Jung-hsiung, secretary of the Taiwan-based Alliance for the Unification of China, said that the group had received invitations from Beijing to attend the celebrations.

"[The invitations] were for the group's high-ranking officers such as the chairman, vice chairman and general-secretary," Wang said, adding that a delegation of four people was now in China.

Tan Shou, secretary-general of the pro-unification Labor Party, however, said that the party had not received any invitations for the past two or three years.

Legislature draws a blank

By Fiona Lu

STAFF REPORTER

Accusations of broken promises tumbled out of the Legislative Yuan yesterday after lawmakers failed to finalize a scheduled review of amendments to the Statute Governing the Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

"This is the most disheartening day I have ever had in my legislative career," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative whip Ker Chien-ming said after the legislative assembly shut down yesterday evening at the request of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators. "The legislative negotiations went nowhere after the day-long talks for bills including the cross-strait statute, revisions to the Judicial Yuan Organic Law and the amended President and Vice President Election and Recall Law."

The legislative confirmation for the free-trade pact between Taiwan and Panama was the day's only achievement.

"The DPP will make a plea to the legislative speaker to reconvene inter-party negotiations tomorrow," Ker said. "We hope that the Legislative Yuan will have another assembly next week to complete a review for these bills."

The Judicial Yuan Organic Law was delayed after People First Party lawmakers questioned the power of a constitutional interpretation made by the Council of Grand Justices.

The delay follows a claim last week by PFP Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang that a constitutional interpretation advising legislators to wrap up the review for the judicial laws before Sunday was not necessarily a legitimate order.

Mainland Affairs Council Chair-woman Tsai Ing-wen overcame opposition from within her own party when the assembly debated the cross-strait law.

Siding with their Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) colleagues, a number of DPP legislators voiced objections to a compulsory eight-year waiting period for Chinese spouses of Taiwanese husbands seeking Taiwanese citizenship.

The lawmakers argued that the eight-year rule would pose a national security threat because 60 percent of the 200,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan had been in the country more than eight years and would therefore immediately gain Taiwanese citizenship.

Legislator Trong Chai said that would spark an upturn in applications from the relatives of Chinese spouses and it is likely that millions of Chinese nationals would be granted a legal stay in Taiwan within a very short time.

Legislator Wang Sing-nan argued support for a humane consideration of Chinese spouses, but he said he would not approve lessening the residency regulation for Chinese spouses until Beijing renounced its threat of force against Taiwan.

DPP criticism of the regulations was soothed after Tsai promised that the MAC would monitor applications and the quota setting for Chinese immigrants.

The TSU, however, reiterated its refusal to give the amendments the go-ahead.

"The TSU will not endorse compromises on the residency rule, the ban on Chinese colleges conducting student enrollment in Taiwan and limited direct links when the compromises are presented without competent auxiliary measures," said TSU legislative leader Liao Pen-yen.

Protest gatecrashes HK celebration

AFP , HONG KONG

Official celebrations to mark China's National Day got off to an uneasy start in Hong Kong yesterday as democracy activists staged noisy demonstrations at a ceremony led by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Slogan-shouting protesters from the pro-democracy April Fifth action group called for an end to communist party rule of China as Tung and 700 officials and guests marked the 54th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The demonstration, repeatedly halted by police, was the latest in a series of unprecedented protests which saw 500,000 people take to the streets in July to voice opposition to proposed security laws.

Crowds of spectators, including Chinese tourists, had turned out to witness the morning ceremony on Hong Kong's Wan Chai waterfront in which Tung raised the territory's Bauhinia flower standard alongside the Chinese flag.

During the event, some 15 protesters marched at a snail's pace along steel barriers set up by police to prevent them from invading the venue.

"What about our right to demonstrate according to the UN human rights convention," shouted protest leader Leung Kwok-hung as police tried to stop demonstrators from scaling the barrier.

Leung later read a petition to Beijing, calling for an end to one-party rule and the return of power to the people.

The document was then burned to show indignation over the protesters' barring from the ceremonial venue.

Hong Kong was to later mark the day with a traditional fireworks display in a celebration that will also express renewed confidence in the wake of the SARS epidemic that ravaged the former British colony.

Dissatisfaction with government handling of the SARS outbreak helped fuel the summer protests which marked Hong Kong's deepest political crisis since the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

Yesterday's demonstrators were joined by members of the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign who called on China to probe the 1989 military crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The group in its petition also called for "thorough reform" of the communist system in order to prevent human-rights abuses.

Carrying symbolic black and white streamers, the protesters also called on Beijing to release all political prisoners and explain the 1989 crackdown.

Diplomatic allies speak out on Taiwan's UN bid

FIRM SUPPORT: A number of the country's international friends addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and confirmed they support its joining the world body

CNA , NEW YORK

Seven more diplomatic allies voiced support for Taiwan's bid to join the UN at the 58th UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

She said that Taiwan's battle against SARS underlined the fact that excluding a country doesn't benefit any country or its people.

He said the people of Taiwan are entitled to lead a peaceful and democratic life and to sharing with other countries in the world.

The passage of UN Resolution 2758 in October 1972 recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the sole representative of China in the organization.

Jagne said that the resolution does not solve the question of the representation of the people of Taiwan in the UN and that it has long been used to "rationalize an unreasonable situation."

Panamanian Foreign Minister Harmodio Arias suggested that the UN can serve as a place where the PRC and Taiwan can seek to resolve the problems that exist between them.

He urged the UN to try to remove all the possible hurdles that could block Taiwan's participation in international activities and its intention to contribute toward international development.

Chinese batteries contaminate soil

By Chiu Yu-Tzu

STAFF REPORTER

More than 2,000 tonnes of China-made dry-cell batteries containing a high level of heavy metals enter Taiwan annually, seriously contaminating the environment, according to legislators and environmentalists yesterday.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan, accusing the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) of malfeasance by not thoroughly inspecting batteries imported from China.

Assisted by the Taipei-based Environmental Quality Protection Foundation, Hsu investigated the distribution pattern of China-made batteries sold in Taiwan, and discovered that they are mostly sold in small stores and in night markets.

Hsu purchased some of the batteries in Taipei and Keelung and submitted them for chemical analysis to two labs certified by the EPA.

"Results suggest that levels of heavy-metals in China-made batteries are much higher than national standards," Hsu said.

"Taiwan's government should emulate the EU, which has banned the import, production and sale of household batteries that have a mercury level exceeding 5ppm," Eric Liou, secretary-general of the foundation, said at the press conference.

Although existing regulations state the mercury level contained in a household battery should not exceed 5ppm, Liou said. Violators must pay four times the recycling fees, he said.

Liou said the low recycling rate in 2001 -- 6.3 percent -- means that more than 9,000 tonnes of wasted dry-cell batteries were burned in incinerators or buried in landfills. Last year, the recycling rate increased to 10.3 percent.

In response, EPA officials said yesterday that the recycling rate could be increased to 15 percent by the end of this year. EPA head Hau Lung-bin last year promised to increased the rate up to 30 percent by the end of this year. Statistics showing the recycling rate in the first third of this year, however, was only 10.5 percent.

Chien returns to talk Constitution

DIPLOMACY: MOFA refused to detail Eugene Chien's discussions with US officials, but they involved details of President Chen Shui-bian's call for a new Constitution

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

"Chien told US officials that Taiwan needs to largely amend its current Constitution or enact a new one in order to fit the island's present realities and facilitate its reforms on various fronts."－Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien returned to Taiwan yesterday after a week-long visit to the US, during which he explained the reasons behind President Chen Shui-bian's call for a new Constitution to the US authorities.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Chien went to the US to preside over a routine working meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Taiwanese officials stationed in the country.

But the spokesman denied that Chien's trip to the US deliberately coincided with Chen's call for a new Constitution, which reportedly angered the George W. Bush administration because it was not informed beforehand.

Declining to give details of conversations between the US officials and Chien, the spokesman said communications between the US and Taiwan remain smooth.

"The US authorities have a better understanding of Chen's stance after hearing Chien's explanation," the Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

The US and the DPP, of which Chen is the chairman, have been discussing Chen's announcement since he made it on Sunday, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan said yesterday.

President Secretary-General Chiou I-jen and DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim, also head of the DPP's Department of International Affairs, have been dealing with communications with the US about Chen's remarks, Lee said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai said Chen, fearing his scheduled foreign trip with a stopover in New York at the end of this month might be in jeopardy, is now trying to "put out the fires."

Lee dismissed Tsai's com-ments, saying that Chen's call for a new Constitution and his planned foreign trip were two distinct matters.

The KMT and the People First Party (PFP) have distorted Chen's call for a new Constitution and turned it into a matter of Taiwan's sovereignty dispute with China, Hsiao said.

Calling the opposition parties' interpretation of Chen's call for a new Constitution as a sign of the president's desire for independence "misleading," Hsiao said the new Constitution is only part of the DPP government's vision for the next few years.

She described as "misleading" comments by the opposition parties that portrayed Chen's calls for a new Constitution as a sign of the president's desire for independence.

In her explanations to US officials about Chen's announcement, Hsiao said she urged the officials to look at the president's call for a new Constitution in the context of the government's plan for its deeper reform.

President Chen to receive coveted award in the US

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

President Chen Shui-bian will receive a prestigious international human-rights award when he visits New York on his way to Panama late this month, the Taipei Times has confirmed.

The International League for Human Rights, a 62-year-old organization with special consultative status at the UN and other key international organizations, will present its coveted Human Rights Award to Chen during a dinner on Oct. 31 during his two-day transit in New York.

The Dalai Lama received the same award last month.

League executive director Louise Kantrow confirmed that Chen will get the award, but could not provide details. She said that an official announcement will be made within a few days.

The award, according to the league's Web site, has been presented since 1968 to "a brave individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of international human rights and justice, which form the foundation for a peaceful civil society."

Previous recipients have included former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, former UN secretary-general U Thant, former South African president Nelson Mandella, Poland's Solidarity movement, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, Holocost survivor and rights campaigner Elie Wiesel, former UN human-rights commissioner Mary Robinson, Chinese dissident Fang Li-zhi and former US senator George Mitchell.

A number of US members of Congress are expected to meet Chen during his trip to New York, but it is not now known whether any will attend the award dinner. The Congressional Taiwan Caucus will be helping to coordinate the visits, and is urging as many members as possible to meet Chen, according to a representative of co-chairman Robert Wexler.

However, it is possible that US Congress will not be in session at the time, making it difficult to assemble a delegation. The last time Chen was in New York during the congressional session, a large group of congressmen flew on a government jet to make the trip and return the next day.

Chen will return to Taiwan via Alaska, sources say.

Shoulder to shoulder

Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Chu-wen, pointing, announces the party's timetable for creating a new Constitution at a press conference yesterday. Huang said a draft will be made public on Jan. 1 next year for the public to review. He said a referendum on the proposed Constitution can be held together with the legislative elections at the end of next year and that his party hopes to promulgate it by 2008.

Chen needs a second term to meet goals

By Chin Heng-wei

`What Chen has displayed is not only an eight-year blueprint for running the nation, but also a politician's vision.'

At the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) 17th anniversary celebrations, President Chen Shui-bian said that the DPP and the 23 million people of Taiwan will jointly push for a new Constitution in 2006. This remark cannot be interpreted in isola-tion, because what Chen has offered is actually a "combo meal," consisting of four courses. Its meaning will show only in this complete framework.

The four steps, or courses, are: One, complete the first referendum in Taiwan's history. Two, win next year's presidential election. Three, win over half of the seats in the legislative elections in Decem-ber next year. Four, "give birth" to Taiwan's new Constitution.

This is not only a political development project, but also what Chen has to accomplish within an eight-year presidency. As Chen said, it takes the power of the people and society to accomplish each of the above goals. Perhaps Chen's comment was designed to consolidate public opinion.

What Chen has displayed is not only an eight-year blueprint for running the nation, but also a politician's vision. He clearly said where he is leading Taiwan in the next four to five years, how he will strive for Taiwan with the people of this nation and what his and the country's goals are.

He has finally endowed "the native son of Taiwan" with solid content and given the people his promise. His ideal matches the Taiwanese people's own will.

Both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) were quick to criticize Chen and his constitutional reform plan. They referred to his previous promises, such as his "five nos" -- no to an independence declaration, no change to the national title, no inclusion of former president Lee Teng-hui's "special state-to-state" model of cross-strait relations in the Constitution and no referendum on independence-unification, no abolishing of the Guidelines for National Unification or the National Unification Council -- as well as to his "New Middle Way."

It is clear that the pan-blue camp does not understand that the time and situation have changed -- or that the people changed their views on "national identity" following the transition of power in 2000.

Chen's "New Middle Way" was proposed during the 2000 campaign to counter warnings from his rivals that "a [cross-strait] war would occur if Chen is elected." As for his other promises, they were made in order to deal with the old system left by the KMT's half-a-century rule.

If Chen is re-elected and if the green camp wins over half the seats of the legislature, who can say that the people cannot create a new Constitution that puts them at the center? The point is, each of Chen's steps needs the people's support. If Chen is re-elected, the best scenario for Taiwan is that the status quo remains.

The worst-case scenario is that Taiwan may fall into the "one China" trap of KMT Chairman Lien Chan, PFP Chairman James Soong and Beijing. If that happens, the results would be too unbearable to predict.

Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.