Sunday, March 05, 2006

Yomiuri Shimbum Interview with Chen

I just ran across this interview. No time to comment.

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Friday stressed his determination to draft a new constitution that would better suit Taiwan's present situation.

"I'll drive forward the formulation of a new constitution based on legal procedures," Chen said during an exclusive interview with Kiichiro Harano, international news editor of The Yomiuri Shimbun, at his presidential office in Taipei.

The statement reflects his pro-independence stance and is sure to anger the Chinese government. On Monday, Chen abolished a policymaking body set up to study the issue of unification with China. He also scrapped 15-year-old symbolic guidelines on eventual unification.

"It'll be difficult, but not impossible, to formulate a new constitution by 2008 [when my presidential term ends]," Chen said. By this, he meant that introducing a new constitution would depend on the results of a parliamentary election due at the end of 2007.


3 comments:

David said...

"By this, he meant that introducing a new constitution would depend on the results of a parliamentary election due at the end of 2007."
Huh? How does that work then?

Incidentally, I think you quoted the wrong bit. The real news is that Chen has clearly said his inauguration promises no longer hold ...

Anonymous said...

Just to let you know, you might want to fix the headline. It's "Yomiuri Shimbun" not "Shimbum".

nosta said...

I think he's right cuz a 'shimbum' is person who's always bumming shims off of you at work ;-)