Chen to form council for cross-strait peace

At a preliminary meeting of the new council, President Chen said he is founding the new top state institution to keep his campaign promise.

In his bid to win a second term, President pledged to set up a mechanism to ensure peace and stability between the two sides of the Strait.

Four top government officials and five civic leaders took part in the meeting to pave the way for the new institution, which is set to replace the National Unification Council that exists only in name now.

Chen presided over the preliminary meeting.

The four officials were Vice President Annette Lu, National Security Council Chairman Kang Ning-hsiang, Presidential Secretary-General Chiou I-jen, and Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ying-wen.

When the new presidential council is set up, there may be a change in government representation in its lineup, though the number of official members remains unchanged.

Some incumbents may be replaced when a new Cabinet is launched after the presidential inauguration on May 20.

Lee Yuan-tseh, president of the Academia Sinica, and C.F. Koo, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, led the civic leader list.

The other three were Morris Chang, chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company; Wu Feng-shan, chairman of Public Television Service; and Chen Poh-chih, chairman of the Taiwan Think Tank.

All five will sit on the new council.

Chen did not say the new organization would replace the National Unification Council, which, set up by former President Lee Teng-hui in 1990, promulgated the Guidelines for National Unification in the following year.

The president, who, as chairman of the National Unification Council, has never convoked it over the last four years, could not abolish it, because he has promised not to do so under his “five-no” pledge of 2000, which he has to reiterate in his inaugural address two weeks from now.

He also promised not to change the title of the Republic of China, declare Taiwan independence, include in the constitution of Lee’s “two-country” doctrine, and hold any more referendum that may change the status quo across the Strait.

The purpose of the new council, President Chen said, is to attain national consensus on cross-Strait relations and promulgate guidelines for the conduct of such relations.

Lee stressed “unification” in the distant future when China might become democratic, while Chen, his political heir, shifted the emphasis to “peace” across the Taiwan Strait.

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