Taipei, Dec 04: Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian Thursday said his controversial plan for a public referendum next year was designed to galvanise a public who "lack a sense of crisis". He maintained that his proposed vote on sovereignty, that has plunged relations with Beijing to a new low, was designed to maintain a cross-straits status quo threatened by Chinese missiles and not about reunification or independence.
The people had to realise that China was threatening Taiwan with the deployment of 496 ballistic missiles along the mainland's southeastern coast, Chen said.
"The main purpose of holding the defensive referendum is to consolidate the psychological defence of the Taiwanese people who lack a sense of crisis," Chen told visiting Democrat Senator Jeff Bingaman.
"The Taiwanese people want peace and oppose missiles. The referendum is meant to maintain the status quo.”
Bureau Report