Group uses congress as platform to criticise leader and his referendum
The Taiwanese delegation to the NPC yesterday lashed out at the island's president, Chen Shui-bian, saying his March 20 referendum was creating an unnecessary crisis.
'We all feel the referendum hurts the feelings of all cross-strait compatriots and is causing an unnecessary crisis,' said Yang Guoqing, a Communist Party member whose father was born in Taipei but moved to the mainland before the 1949 civil war.
'Our Taiwan compatriots know that Taiwan independence would bring a crisis. We Taiwanese compatriots on the mainland absolutely oppose Taiwan independence.'
Practically every one of the 13 members of the delegation took turns in attacking Mr Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party during a two-hour session held at a hotel in Beijing packed with journalists from Taiwan.
'Chen Shui-bian has given up tremendous opportunities to improve relations with mainland leaders,' said Fan Zengsheng, a Shanghai-based economist who was born in Taiwan but migrated to the mainland in the 1980s.