In a surprise development, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday announced at a rally in Tainan his intention to push through a new round of referendums at the end of the year.
After expressing gratitude to Tainan residents for their support in the presidential election, Chen proposed that a referendum be held on two topics -- whether or not to halve the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan and whether to establish a committee to review Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party assets.
Proposed laws on both issues are currently stalled in bill form in the Legislative Yuan due to disagreement among legislators.
PHOTO:CHU PEI-YA, TAIPEI TIMES
The proposed law to reduce the size of the legislature envisions cutting the number of seats in the legislature from 225 to 113 and would go into effect in 2007, but the bill failed to pass in the run-up to the presidential election last month.
The bill to review the legality of KMT party assets has met with resistance from legislators who belong to the KMT and the People First Party (PFP).
Chen did not offer additional specifics about the newly proposed referendum topics.
Saying that if the pan-blue camp wanted a referendum, he would give them one, Chen drew attention to what he characterized as discrepancies in the pan-blue camp's reasoning.
"The pro-blue camp originally accused us of ulterior motives when we proposed holding a referendum along with the presidential election," Chen said.
"However, they now obviously think that it's fair to hold a referendum during an election, since they want to tie the year-end legislative elections to a referendum on the establishment of a `truth committee' and a committee to review the national security defense mechanism," he said, referring to the pan-blue camp's proposal to hold a referendum on whether to establish a committee that would investigate the assassination attempt on Chen and whether to review documents related to the implementation of the national security mechanism.
The pan-blue camp has called both the assassination attempt and the triggering of the national security mechanism into question, accusing Chen of ploys to reduce the number of votes cast for the KMT-PFP alliance in the presidential election.
Chen lambasted the pan-blue camp's demands.
"What is the truth? The truth is that they are being sore losers. The truth is that they are being irresponsible by not stepping down after their loss. They are making society pay for their irrationality," Chen said.
Chen characterized the pan-blue politicians as looking down on the Taiwanese people.
"How can they say that pan-green supporters are low class? Is it shameful to be `barefooted?' How does wearing leather shoes make someone `better?'" Chen said, referring to PFP Legislator Liu Wen-shiung's (劉文雄) comparison of "leather-shoed" Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-Jeou (馬英九) to "barefooted," newly sworn-in Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
The rally was held to thank the Democratic Progressive Party's Tainan supporters for their help and enthusiasm during the presidential election last month.
Much attention was given to the president's security at the rally, with increased police personnel on alert.
The president wore a bulletproof vest and spoke at a podium that was protected by bullet-proof glass.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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