A group of university professors launched a campaign yesterday to recall Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and lawmakers opposed to the March 20 referendum.
Members of the Taiwan Peace Foundation (
Foundation member Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), a professor of computer science at the National Taiwan University, said Ma and pan-blue lawmakers have continued to come up with excuses in an effort to block the referendum.
Kao said the referendum is based on Article 17 of the Referendum Law (
Wang Tu-fa (王塗發), head of the Taiwan Professors Association (台灣教授協會), said: "Ma has been fighting the tide of direct democracy and opposing people's right to participate in a referendum."
Besides Ma, the foundation criticized Chinese Nationalist Party legislators John Chang (章孝嚴) and Alex Tsai (蔡正元) for their vocal opposition to the referendum and pro-unification stance.
Kao said a recall is feasible if people unite.
According to Article 70 and Article 74 of the Election and Recall Law (
A successful recall requires a 50 percent turnout, meaning more than 400,000 Taipei City residents would need to vote.
Kao said the foundation would set up petition booths on Feb. 28, when a demonstration will be held to promote peace and oppose China's missiles.
If they do not collect enough signatures on Feb. 28, they will resume their efforts on March 20, Kao said.
Taipei City Government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS