Discussing Taiwan's first National Security Report, which was released Saturday, Chen stated that it implicitly called for Taiwan to act as "a model of freedom and democracy for East Asia and the world" and stressed Taiwan's importance as an example for China's democratization.

"If China does not liberalize or democratize, advocates of unification or independence in Taiwan will not be able to realize their ideals," he said.

Chen suggested that Taiwan should play a role as a "firewall" and not a "detonator" in the disputes between great powers and could even move toward the status of a neutral nation, such as Switzerland.

Chen, a former chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, made the comments during a seminar on the report held yesterday in Taipei.

Chen contended that the most serious issue for Taiwan's national security was the need for "the people of Taiwan to have a common will and to strive for unity among differences."

He stated that the "National Security Report for 2006" implicitly manifested several core concepts which in future versions should be clearly listed as guiding principles for national security.

Outlining principles

The first and foremost principle, Chen said, was that "Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu are the common assets of all our 23 million people and we must uphold the fair and sustainable development of these common assets."

"These assets cannot be used and then dumped by any individual, any class or capitalist or political party, but must be managed in common by the people in a sustainable manner," he said. "Anyone who cannot agree to this principle has no right to consider themselves citizens of Taiwan."

Second, Chen said that both advocates of unification and independence were important in Taiwan society.

"The existence of advocates of unification can help avoid an immediate direct cross-strait conflict, while the existence of advocates of independence can help us strive for international space and bolster Taiwan's autonomy," said Chen, who urged advocates of both positions to show mutual tolerance and respect.

"The most important objective is now is not unification or independence but how to ensure that the people of Taiwan can retain the freedom of choice," he argued.

On the economic front, the former CEPD chairman stressed that Taiwan needed to strive to become "a center of innovation" and not simply a "gateway to China" and should reorient its development strategy to become "people-centered" through focusing on enhancing the quality of life and improving the investment and operating environment for business.

While Chen found positive elements in the report, other scholars felt it lacked concrete ideas to meet the growing challenges facing Taiwan.

"There is too much abstract theory and too little concrete action and method in this report," said Soochow University associate professor of political science Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政).

"There is no clear focus how to manage or prioritize contradictions between attaining breakthroughs in 'expanding ties with countries without diplomatic relations' and 'promoting cross-strait peace,'" Lo asserted.

He stated that the failure of the National Security Council (國家安全會議) to provide an executive summary in English and the absence of linkages to the report on the Government Information Office Web site clashed with the report's call for the promotion of public diplomacy or outreach into the international foreign policy community.

"Several foreign reporters and an ambassador of a foreign country called me and asked for my help in summarizing the key points of the document, saying that they could not find any English-language summary and that relevant officials could not be reached by telephone," Lo said.

"Foreign policy is very important to national security, but this report only discusses our foreign relations in terms of the threat from China," said Lo, who stated that Taiwan faces many other threats, challenges and opportunities in foreign relations that were neglected in the report.

Lo added that the DPP government had discussed the concept of "democracy" or "human rights" diplomacy, but that little had been accomplished, including the inability to incorporate international human rights convenants into domestic law.

He stated that since the approval ratings of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) are now at an all-time low, "in a sense the Chen administration has no burden and can take action to do what it should do in terms of foreign affairs and other reforms."

"The legacy of the Chen administration will be positive if it implements the policy visions contained in this report," Lo added.

DPP Department of China Affairs Director Lai I-chung said the report should be given credit for listing the military, diplomatic, economic and psychological warfare threats from China and in outlining its policies in response.

Lai contended, however, that the report did not analyse the threats from China from the standpoint of the PRC's overall development direction but only looked at the threats in terms of cross-strait relations and basically "viewed everything as a threat."

He suggested that the report's notion of threats to Taiwan in cross-strait relations was "too general" and did not distinguish between external threats and the appropriate response and Taiwan's internal weaknesses and how they could be gradually addressed.

Taiwan Institute for Economic Research Vice President Kung Ming-hsien said the report's coverage of the strategic issues facing Taiwan was comprehensive, but "lacked a sense of priorities."

Kung commended the report for pointing out the strategic importance of Taiwan's development of a knowledge-based economy, but also criticized its lack of attention to the need for Taiwan to build a "security reservoir" of talent, technology and intellectual property or an evaluation of the rising importance of these three factors.

The National Security Report, in Chinese, can be downloaded at www.president.gov.tw.