Taiwan Vows New Steps to Democracy
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The government will formally end its state of war with China before May, removing a major obstacle to closer ties with Beijing and further democratic reform on the island, President Lee Teng-hui said Tuesday.
Lee said Taiwan will rescind the emergency declaration issued just before the Nationalist government lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan in 1949.
“We hope that in the shortest period of time, that is to say before May next year, we will, according to the law, declare an end to the period of Communist rebellion,” he said in a speech to the National Assembly marking Taiwan’s Constitution Day.
The reforms will help to set the stage for the eventual reunification of Taiwan with China and meet growing popular demands for democracy, Lee said.
Meanwhile, about 10,000 supporters of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party marched through Taipei’s financial district Tuesday to demand swifter change and the release of Huang Hwa, a prominent member of the party.
Huang was sentenced on Dec. 8 to 10 years in prison for advocating that Taiwan become completely independent of China.
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