Over 100 party leaders and activists and scholars attended the "Self-examination, Transformation and Renewed Struggle" conference at the Taipei International Convention Center and agreed on a wide range of "consensus" reform proposals concerning the DPP's core values, organization and future role in Taiwan society.

DPP Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) stated that the conference agreed to reaffirm and implement the DPP's "core values" of "clean and diligent government and love of Taiwan," make organizational reforms to adapt to the new single-seat Legislative election system by setting up district party branches and incorporate impartial social personages into the party's clean politics disciplinary system and to establish a task force to conduct a thorough and frank review of the DPP' eight years in government.

Moreover, the council also agreed to bolster the DPP's policy discourse capabilities and to carefully monitor the China policy of the incoming right-wing Kuomintang government and promptly organize a conference to review the challenges of globalization and changing relations between the Taiwan, the People's Republic of China and the United States.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was absent from the meeting, but most other DPP heavyweights were present for most or all of the full day session, including two of the three candidates for the DPP chairperson post, DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮) and former senior presidential adviser Koo Kwan-min, while former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was out of the country.

Hsieh told reporters that President Chen's absence was "well-intentioned" and aimed to allow the discussions, which were mostly held behind closed door except for the concluding session, to be "frank and freewheeling."

Speaking after the conference, DPP Chairman and defeated presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) stated that the meeting had "shown a general direction" for the DPP's systematic reform.

"Society should not underestimate the DPP's capability to face difficulties and to stand up after setbacks," said Hsieh, who stressed that "our only choice is to continue to progress."

Hsieh related that all of the "consensus" reform proposals agreed upon in the conference would be reviewed by the DPP Central Executive Committee and submitted for discussion in an upcoming special party congress May 4.

Proposals that do not impact on the DPP's charter or by-laws may be approved by the May 4 congress, but changes in organization and nominating systems can at most be provisionally approved for review by a regular party congress in July, whose delegates will be elected on May 18 together with the new DPP chairperson.

Many of the new resolutions reflected a renewed shift in the DPP back to its past broad "progressive" or "center-left" position and the party's intent to rebuild links with social and civic movement which the DPP had formerly been closely aligned.

For example, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) stated that the subgroup on coping with the challenge of globalization and the rise of China had stressed that "the DPP needs to adopt a center-left direction" as well as intensifying monitoring of the China policy directions and methods adopted by the incoming Kuomintang government.

DPP Legislator Lai Ching-teh stressed that the successive defeats showed that the image of the DPP's political integrity had "a major impact on election results" and said his subgroup had urged the DPP to intensify party discipline and training and restore the fairness of the nominating system by dropping the "filters" against "pan-blue" or "pro-KMT" voters in opinion polls used in the nominating process.

DPP Democratic Academy Lo Wen-chia related that the DPP government's policies had shown "gaps" with its core values and said that in the future the DPP would promote cultural pluralism, social justice, "green" values of putting priority on the environment and "a progressive line" so that the DPP "will represent social progress and while the KMT represents conservative forces."

In the future, Lo said the conference called on the DPP to "establish a task force to frankly review our experience in government," expand publicity on the DPP core values for party supporters and the general public, bolster public policy monitoring and discourse and actively engage in grassroots dialogue to build more social support.

Nevertheless, some DPP leaders were clearly disappointed with the result.

After a brief but sharp debate in the conclusion session open to the media on whether the party's current ban on intraparty factions should be lifted, defeated DPP vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) declared that he was "quite disappointed" with the re-examination.

The former premier said that the session should have discussed "why we were defeated to this degree and why the DPP lost the trust of the people in the past eight years and even more important what we should do in the future and the question of factions is not the key point."

"The people still expect us to act as an opposition force and we should be linking with social reform movements and going things and not waiting until the new chairperson or the new Central Executive Committee is elected," declared Su.

Hsieh stated that "the fact that we have different views and expose our shortcomings and differences publicly is the lovable thing about the DPP!"