TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's ruling party approved a resolution Sunday underscoring the island's sovereignty and calling for steps to turn it into a "normal country," a status strongly resisted by China.
The resolution was the more moderate of two versions put to a congress of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
It urged the party to "take active steps such as rectifying the country's name, the enactment of a new constitution as soon as possible and joining the United Nations... in order to turn Taiwan into a 'normal country'."
It also called on the government to promote the identity of Taiwan and act to retrieve assets the DPP alleges the opposition Kuomintang party stole while ruling the island.
However, the resolution is regarded as largely aspirational and is not expected to have an immediate impact on government policy.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. But Beijing still regards the island as a renegade province and has repeatedly threatened an invasion should Taipei declare formal independence.
The other resolution put to the congress by former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun was harder in calling for Taiwan to declare itself a sovereign state, but it was defeated.
Yu's version had the support of the DPP's radical independence groups but was opposed by the party's presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, who feared such a move might scare away moderate voters in the 2008 presidential race.
Hsieh is hoping to succeed President Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, who ended the Kuomintang's 51-year grip on power when he was first elected in 2000.
Local newspapers said Washington had warned the DPP not to approve Yu's version.
Taiwan's ties with the United States, its major arms supplier, have been damaged by a DPP pledge to push for a referendum on seeking UN membership for the island.
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