The Cross Strait Times

From The Associated Press:

Opposition lawmakers on Monday attacked suggestions from President Chen Shui-bian that Taiwan enshrine its separateness from rival China by enacting a new constitution — the second time he has raised the idea in less than a month…

In remarks on Sunday night honoring Koo Kuan-min, a staunch supporter of Taiwanese independence, Chen said the island should consider freezing its current constitution — which regards Taiwan and mainland China as a single country — and enact a new one reflecting Taiwan’s self-ruled status…

Instead of formally abandoning that constitution, Koo has proposed freezing the document temporarily, and then replacing it with a new legal framework embodying a “second republic” — a successor to the present Republic of China, which is Taiwan’s official name.

Chen’s proposal is utterly pointless. If the current Constitution is outdated, then there is already an adequate mechanism for it to amended, as has already been done over the course of the 1990s to reflect the status quo. Chen’s purpose here, which should be obvious, is to 1) deflect attention away from his low approval ratings and ongoing efforts to depose him and to 2) gradually implement Taiwan independence by severing legal continuity with the old mainland-based Republic of China. Aside from accomplishing nothing practical, a new constitution serves to decrease the symbolic legitimacy of the Republic of China. The current Constitution of the Republic of China predates the 1949 Communist Revolution. If the Constitution is replaced, then the Republic of China no longer represents the old order, but rather a secessionist entity that the People’s Republic of China will have plenty of justification to quash.

That said, this isn’t going to happen for the time being. Chen Shui-bian is unpopular and the pan-Blues control the legislature. The pan-Greens have no way to get this passed, except unilaterally and extra-legally, in which case there will be mass social disorder.