Why Taiwan referendum on lowering voting age to 18 has Beijing keeping close watch

Name: Chinese President, Xi Jinping says peaceful reunification with Taiwan ‘must be realised’
Uploaded: 2022-11-23T10:00:28.000Z
Duration: 3 min 55 s
Description: Chinese President, Xi Jinping says peaceful reunification with Taiwan ‘must be realised’

Saturday’s referendum on constitutional change to lower voting and public office candidacy ages to 18 has been labelled ‘separatist’ by Beijing

Beijing fears poll may lead to more constitutional changes, such as removal of Republic of China title and declaration of independence, analyst says

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Young Taiwanese at an election rally in Taipei on Sunday. Photo: AP

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 6:00pm, 23 Nov 2022

Taiwan holds its first-ever constitutional referendum this weekend – a vote slammed by Beijing as a bid to pave the way for formal independence for the self-run island.

The “18-year-old civil rights” referendum on Saturday, to be held alongside local government elections, will ask voters if they agree to amend the constitution to lower the voting age from 20 to 18.

It will also ask voters to decide whether the minimum age of a candidate running for public office should be lowered to 18, from 23 at present.

The island’s constitution was passed in late 1947 by the then Kuomintang government on the mainland, who brought it to Taiwan after the KMT were defeated by the Chinese communists at the end of a civil war in 1949.

Titled the “Constitution of the Republic of China” – Taiwan’s formal name for itself – the document contains a significant “one-China” component, as it regards both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland as a part of China.

Beijing’s one-China principle also states Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory, to be eventually reunited with the motherland.

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Chinese President, Xi Jinping says peaceful reunification with Taiwan ‘must be realised’

“This constitutional amendment referendum has a historical significance in which citizens exercise constitutional review for the very first time,” said Lee Chin-yung, head of the Taiwanese Central Election Commission.