Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has announced it strongly opposes a draft of the "second republic constitution" proposed by a professor from Taiwan University, according to reports of Taiwan media.

The proposal for a "second republic constitution" aims to seek "Taiwan independence" and is a part of the Democratic Progressive Party platform for the Taiwan leader election in 2008, according to the KMT announcement issued on Tuesday.

Yang Tu, director of the KMT publicity department, was quoted as saying that a public opinion poll showed that only 20 percent of Taiwan people support Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian. Such a government has no public support for any amendment to the "constitution".

The basic principle of the "second republic constitution" is to seek "Taiwan independence", which will damage Taiwan's safety and bring about a risk of war, said Yang.

Taiwan University Professor Chen Ming-tong and other scholars made public a draft of the "second republic constitution" on March 18.

The draft states Taiwan's jurisdiction "covers Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and offshore islands."

It also claims that "any change to the political relationship between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China must be decided by negotiations between the two sides based on equality and peace, pending the approval of Taiwanese."

The draft has sparked fierce disputes in Taiwan. The People First Party members said on Tuesday that the draft damages the current cross-Straits situation and structure, and it is equal to the "de jure Taiwan independence" and will certainly cause turbulence in the relations across the Taiwan Straits.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2007)