Chen then said the constitution needed to be amended to lay the foundation of democratic rule of law and resolve issues such as whether the nation has a three-way or five-way separation of powers and whether it is governed under a presidential or a cabinet system. He also stated that issues concerning national sovereignty, territorial definitions, and unification or independence would be set aside until a consensus was reached between the nation's political parties.
為了確立民主法治的根基，並徹底釐清三權分立或五權憲法、總統制或內閣制...... 等爭議，必須進行憲政改造工程。總統同時重申，在國內各政黨還沒有形成共識之前，憲改不會觸及所謂國家主權、領土改變或者統獨的議題。