In meeting with U.S. Congress delegates President Chen reaffirms his pledge that the constitutional re-engineering project will not affect the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

        On November 30th this year President Chen Shui-Bian met in Taipei with a U.S. congressional delegation led by Rep. John Culberson. Other members of the delegation included congressmen Rep. John Carter and Rep. Phil Gingrey, as well as former congressman Greg Laughlin.

         During this meeting President Chen reiterated his administration’s plan to appropriately re-engineer the constitution, a relic of a past age. He took the opportunity to reaffirm that this constitutional re-engineering project would in no way breach the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and that he was dedicated to his pledge to maintain the status quo throughout his term in office.

         President Chen outlined the constitutional re-engineering project during his meeting with the congressional delegation, describing the plan for a 2006 national referendum on a draft of the new constitution that would be implemented on May 20, 2008. Such a constitutional amendment, President Chen stressed to the congressmen, would abide entirely with current constitutional regulations and would not contravene cross-Strait activities nor breach any of his previous pledges. The policy guidelines set out in President Chen’s May 20 inauguration speech, his October 10 National Day address and his November 10 ten-point directive for cross-Strait policy remain the intact and would not be altered at any time during his tenure.

         It was also made clear to the visiting congressmen that the constitutional re-engineering project would rigorously follow Taiwan’s existing constitution amending procedures to write a modern constitution that fits with Taiwan’s present situation. Under existing mechanisms any new constitution proposal requires the consent of three-quarters of the legislators before it is then referred to a “functional National Assembly” for further review and approval.

         According to the legislative reform package passed by the Legislative Yuan in August this year this “functional National Assembly” will be elected next year to vote on the draft of the new constitution. If all goes well, President Chen stated to the congressmen, the draft of the new constitution would then be put up for a nationwide referendum in 2006. If passed the new constitution would be put into force upon the conclusion of the current presidential term: May 20, 2008.

         The new constitution would phase out the “functional National Assembly” portion of constitutional reform, and all future constitution-amending bills passed by the legislature would instead be subject to a national referendum.

          In concluding President Chen reiterated that the constitutional re-engineering project is fully compliant with Taiwan’s constitutional procedures and would not violate the content or spirit of his May 20 inauguration speech, his National Day address nor his ten-point directive. President Chen could be no clearer than in his final summary to the congressional delegation: “Our promises remain in place and will not be subjected to any change”.