President's surprise statement causes stir

This article was written by Shih Ying-ying and published by the Taiwan Journal on February 10, 2006. It reports that President Chen Shui-bian created diplomatic and political shockwaves recently when he declared his intention to consider abolishing the National Unification Council and the Guidelines for National Unification.

Both the National Unification Council and the Guidelines for National Unification were created were created in the early 1990s with the intention of promoting eventual unification. But Chen said that now is an appropriate time to consider abolishing them "in order to reflect the current state of Taiwanese consciousness".

Chen further proposed that the government seek membership in the United Nations under the name "Taiwan", instead of the "Republic of China". He intended for a new constitution to be drafted by the end of 2006 and put to a referendum in 2007.

Chen's remarks gave rise to a storm of debate about whether eliminating the National Unification Council would break his promise made in 2000 that he would not declare Taiwan independence. Some government officials defended Chen and pointed out that the president was simply following a Legislative Yuan resolution to cease operation of agencies that are not based in law. In other words, the National Unification Council was set up by presidential order and has never been approved by the Legislature.

Meanwhile, officials from Washington said that the United States opposes any unilateral changes made by either Taiwan or China to the cross-strait status quo.