North Korean ship makes first port call in South's Busan

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian said Sunday that the country was forging its own path but needed eight more years to consolidate its democracy.

"Generally speaking, peace, democracy, Taiwan identity...are the most concrete results the government has achieved over the past seven years," Chen said during a seminar held in Taipei.

But "there is still ample room for improvement, my two four-year terms are not sufficient. Taiwan at least needs another eight years if it is to consolidate its democracy," he said.

Earlier in the day, television images showed Chen clad in white protective robe and rubber boots using a net to gather floating oil in Hsiao Liu Chiu, a fishing harbour off the southern Kaohsiung county, during an event to mark his last year in office.

Chen, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was elected the president in 2000, ending the Kuomintang's (KMT) 51-year grip on power.