The National Development Conference: A Cacophony of Keynotes

The National Development Conference (NDC) opened on December 23, 1996. Before the conference there had been compromises among the three main political parties, and in his opening remarks President Lee Teng-hui called on participants to put aside differences in party affiliation and background and explore major issues in a pragmatic and unselfish way. He promised that the government would move as quickly as possible to turn any agreements into actual policy.

However, once sessions began, the New Party accused the majority Kuomintang (KMT) of having overturned to one degree or another the compromises achieved in the pre-conference meetings. Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the KMT had been unable to reach agreement on the "improved mixed chief executive system" for the government, and within the DPP differences arose between the party's National Assembly Caucus and the party center. As for the KMT, while it remained essentially united at the top, as the ruling party it has been subject to skepticism among opposition parties and commentators about the motives behind its proposals...

This article was written by Anna Wang and Marlene Chen, translated by Phil Newell, and published by the Sinorama magazine in January 1997. It is a careful observation on the National Development Conference in 1996, and on the performances of Taiwan's three major political particies before, during and after the conference. It also provides a detailed examination on the political and economic issues discussed during the conference.

The Sinorama magazine's web site is:

http://www.sinorama.com.tw/

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