President Chen Shui-bian this morning attended a seminar about "Taiwan's Sovereignty, Constitution and Future" organized by the "Taiwan Law Association" and gave a speech.
The president said in his speech that Taiwan is now psychologically prepared to launch a full re-engineering of the constitution following the formation of a new sovereign country discourse and the fading out of old ideologies. The successful execution of the "abolishment of the National Assembly" and the "integration of referendum in the constitution" have proved this approach.
The president emphasizes that this development has made us even more confident that the second phase constitutional reform will not be more difficult than the first one. He has faith that he could give the people a suitable, time-proven and pragmatic constitution before the end of his term in 2008.
The president's speech is as follows:
I am very happy and honored today to be invited to this seminar on "Taiwan's Sovereignty, Constitution and Future," organized by the "Taiwan law Association." The "Taiwan Law Association" is a countrywide association composed of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law scholars and other law-related workers. I had been a member of it, and it is also the highest legal academic association of Taiwan. However, unknown to most people, while at its 25th assembly in 1995, the association which was then named "Chinese Comparative Law Association" resolved to rectify its name to "Taiwan Law Association." But the Ministry of Interior rejected this request. After a series of appeals, the association finally obtained the "go ahead" on May 15, 1999 to use the word "Taiwan" for a national association.
Through this simple example, we could perceive how the "greater China ideology" persists and confuses the Taiwanese national identity. This has blocked the development of democracy in Taiwan. If one day we cannot be freed from such political burden, we will not be able to become a sovereign, free and normal country.
Since we were young, we all had the experience of being taught at school the four elements forming a country, which include the land, the people, the government and sovereignty. Among them, the land, the people and the government are tangible and can be seen. Only sovereignty is an abstract concept. But at that time, students just knew to learn by heart the text of their books without understanding the meaning of it. For the past few centuries, sovereignty has been one of the most discussed topics in western legal and political societies, and it is also the one that receives the most attention. Although the word "sovereignty" is a translated terminology, its translation is somehow adequate and accurate. If we put it directly from what it means, sovereignty could mean simply as: "the right and the will to become one's own master."
There is a lyric in a famous song in Hokklo language that is called "No hardworking, no winning," saying a body without a soul is a like a scarecrow, which can be used to describe the meaning of sovereignty. The soul is equal to sovereignty. If a man loses the right and will to be his own master and is submissive to other parties' command and arrangements, he then becomes a scarecrow. Therefore, sovereignty not only is the right to become one's own master, but also gives emphasis to the will of becoming one's own master.
Following the sacrifices and struggles of our ancestors in the past decades, the aspiration of the Taiwanese to be their own master finally came true thanks to the success in the political democratization. A clearer concept of a sovereign country was finally formed, which is what I have kept on saying that the Republic of China is an independent sovereign country, and the country's sovereignty belongs to all the people of Taiwan. Only the 23 million Taiwanese have the right to decide the future of their country. Such a concept is not only conformed to the principles of "the power belongs to the people" and "self-determination of the people," but also truely reflects the actual situation. I believe that by accepting such a de facto sovereignty concept to replace the "greater China ideology" would not only promote harmony in society, but also facilitate future constitutional reform.
One of the architects of the American constitution, Alexander Hamilton used to say "the republic's basic principle is that the people have the right to modify or abolish it when they believe that the constitution is in violation of their well-being." This principle is an ideal that the Taiwanese people have long been expecting it but without realizing it. Including the constitutional reform on June 7 this year, Taiwan has made seven constitutional reforms in this decade. This is because of the influence of the "greater China ideology," and the restrictive dogma that every time a modification was to be done, it could only be done on a specific item, not on a general review or a comprehensive modification.
Following the formation of a new national sovereignty concept and the dying out of the old ideologies, Taiwan has already prepared itself psychologically for the launching of a comprehensive constitutional reform. The realization of the goals of "abolishment of the National Assembly" and the "institution of referendum in the constitution" has proved the correctness of this direction and given us bigger confidence that the second phase constitutional reform would not encounter greater difficulties or hardship than the earlier reform. A-bian is confident that in 2008, Taiwan will have a relevant, timely, and viable new constitution.
The American constitution is the first written constitution in the history of democracy. After its adoption at the conference on September 17, 1789 in Philadelphia, it had to be approved by at least nine states out of the 13 to take effect. But problems arose over the state's approval, as some supported it while others were against it.
In order to win more support for the new constitution, three scholars, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, used the same pen name to write a total of 85 articles on the New York Times to explain the meaning of the new constitution and fight back at certain opposing opinions. These articles were later gathered in a book entitled "The Federalist Papers."
This historical fact once again proves that even 200 years ago, any constitutional reform had to be made from the bottom to the top and had to win most people's support and participation so that there could be a successful reform. When we are proceeding to the reform's second phase, we need people like Hamilton and articles like "The Federalist Papers." The "Taiwan Law Association" absolutely has such capability and competence. The seminar today can be said as a solid beginning. I hope that our expectations would soon be fulfilled and an institution that will last long for Taiwan's sustainable development established. Besides the help from the "Taiwan Law Association," I am also willing to play the role of a gardener to help promote this ideal so that the constitutional reform could be achieved.
Finally, I would like to express once again my gratitude to the "Taiwan Law Association" and I wish success to the seminar today. I wish you health and luck.