從公民投票看台灣主體定位

Referendum and Taiwan Subjectivity: A Preliminary Inspection

賴怡忠(I-Chung Lai)

《國家政策季刊》 4卷3期 (2005/09) Pp. 89-108

https://doi.org/10.6407/NPQ.200509.0089

摘要

在二○○四年三月二十日總統選舉投票時，台灣人民也針對「和平公投」的兩道題目進行投票，從而完成有史以來第一次台灣全國性的公民投票。「三二○和平公投」引起國內相當大的政治爭議，同時也對當時的「美－中－台三角關係」以及亞太局勢造成相當的衝擊。
在有關台灣主體定位的議題上，其實包含好幾個概念。它可以是台灣的國際定位，也可以是台灣認同，有時也意指台灣在國際事務思考的自我意識與議價能力等。但當把公民投票與台灣主體定位這兩個議題聯繫起來時，尤其是討論有關公民投票對台灣主體性的關係時，其內涵往往指的是公民投票對於台灣的國家定位、台灣認同、台灣的國際處境與議價能力等議題，會帶來什麼樣的影響。
在有關台灣的國際地位上，公民投票由原先以台灣人民公投決定台灣前途，所謂以「改變台灣未定狀態」為目的，演變到後來在陳總統時代，公民投票成為「維護現狀」的全民意志宣示工具，公民投票工具性意涵的變化，也顯示出台灣在民主化後，台灣主體論述內容與重點的改變。
在有關台灣認同上，「三二○和平公投」的經驗所告訴我們的，是認同本身決定是否參與公投，而不是公投過程改變了人民的認同。但「三二○和平公投」的政治實驗使公投成為台灣常規的政治語言，選舉本身不再是唯一的民主政治操作。但是否公投會以一個新民主形式的一部分，透過具體實踐而強化共同體，進而改變了人民有關國家認同的內容與態度，則還需要進一步觀察。
在有關台灣的國際議價能力上，「三二○和平公投」固然引起極大爭議，但也因公投本身的民主正當性，迫使國際需要重新注意台灣的關切。台灣固然因此受到極大責難，扁政府的台美關係甚至有一陣子直落谷底，但也因此使台灣的安全關切得以進入國際的政治議程。就取得設定議題的戰略位置來說，「三二○和平公投」是有其貢獻的。
但「三二○和平公投」失敗的經驗，也意味著如果公投法沒有修正，未來公投作為社會動員與台灣主體促進的工具，可能其效度會逐漸喪失。雖然台灣主體定位不會因為公投作為工具的困難度而受到影響，但失去公投作為社會動員的政治工具後，其未來的影響為何，仍有待觀察。

關鍵字

公民投票 ； 台灣主體性 ； 台灣認同 ； 民意調查

並列摘要

The 2004 ”Peace Referendum” not only created huge domestic political controversy but also strong impact on the ”US-China-Taiwan Trilateral Relation” and the security environment in the Asia-Pacific.
Before entering the discussion of referendum and its relationship with the ”Taiwan Subjectivity”, some clarification of the issue of ”Taiwan Subjectivity” needs to be made. ”Taiwan Subjectivity” is a multi-dimensional issue. It covers issue such as the international status of Taiwan. It could also mean the ”Taiwanese Identity”. It sometimes also relates the impact on the capability, of Taiwan for its international negotiation. When we connect referendum with ”Taiwan Subjectivity”, it means how the referendum affects Taiwan in those aspects mentioned above.
In the issue of how the referendum affects the international status of Taiwan, the discovery shows the role of referendum has evolved from being the tool to determine/clarify Taiwan's international status during the KMT ruling period, to becoming the tool for publicly defending the ”status quo” in Chen Shui-Bian government. The evolution of the role of referendum also revealed how dramatic change of the discourse and emphasis of the term of ”Taiwan Subjectivity” has experienced.
In the issue of how the referendum affects the Taiwanese identity is concerned, the experience of the ”Peace Referendum” demonstrated people's identity strongly determined their decision on whether to participate the first ever nationally held referendum than the other way around. However, one of the consequences of the ”Peace Referendum” experiment is the integration of referendum into Taiwan's normal political languages. No longer is the election the only democratic political practice. It remains to be seen whether the referendum could really depoliticized to enable it to acquire a normal place in Taiwan's democracy, and to affect people's identity inclination through continuing referendum practices.
In the issue of how the referendum affects the capability for Taiwan's international negotiation is concerned, it goes without saying that the ”Peace Referendum” did generate huge international controversy. However, due to the legitimacy of the referendum, it also forced the international community to pay attention to Taiwan's concern. Taiwan did pay a high price for enacting the ”Peace Referendum”, but the action also enables Taiwan to effectively voice out its security concern in the international arena. Thus in terms of evaluating how Taiwan is able to acquire the strategic position for agenda setting, the contribution from ”Peace Referendum” can not be easily discounted.
However, the failure of the passage of the ”Peace Referendum” means the effectiveness of referendum as a tool for social mobilization and the ”Taiwan Subjectivity” promotion could diminish if the referendum law is to remain in the current form. Though such result will affect relatively little in the short term on the issue of the definition of the ”Taiwan Status”, but we should not discount the possibility of the negative impact in the future.

並列關鍵字

plebiscite ； taiwan subjectivity ； taiwanese identity ； public opinion poll