HONG KONG -- To the consternation of his political foes and the delight of his allies, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on New Year's Day delivered an address in which he made it clear that he was as determined as ever to press ahead for the de jure independence of Taiwan, a move that Beijing has promised to meet with military action.
Despite a calamitous defeat in local elections last month when the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which favors reconciliation with mainland China, gained control of two-thirds of local governments on the island, the president, who had been expected to soften his position toward China, insisted he was still intent on pressing for a new constitution to be adopted by a referendum in 2007.
Chen, who said the government did not "let election outcomes derail our efforts and resolve," disclosed his plan by asking rhetorically: "Should conditions in Taiwan society become sufficiently mature, who is to say that holding a referendum on the new constitution by 2007 is an impossibility?"