Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday congratulated Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) for surpassing the required 30 percent approval rating threshold in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary process, and urged her to persuade her colleagues at the legislature to support lowering the legal voting age to 18.
“I would like to extend my congratulations to Hung for the very good result in the poll. It is a very big responsibility and a heavy burden to win the party’s nomination,” Tsai said on Facebook. “As a female politician, I would like to extend my sincerest wishes.”
Tsai said that althogh Hung had released a video clip expressing her support for lowering the voting age to 18, “unfortunately, the constitutional amendment that would make it happen might never pass the legislature, since the KMT caucus insists on tying it to other amendment proposals.”
Photo: Chang An-chiao, Taipei Times
“At this critical junction, I hope that Hung uses her influence to persuade her colleagues in the Legislative Yuan to stop obstructing the development of civil rights for young people,” Tsai said.
Tsai said she welcomed the participation of young people in public affairs, and that the Sunflower movement and the debate over the Ministry of Education’s plan to adjust high-school curriculum guidelines are evidence of young people’s maturity and enthusiasm.
“Eighteen is an age full of hope and zeal — it is like the rising sun that can end the darkness and light up the nation’s future,” Tsai said. “We should allow them the civil rights that belong to them, so that they can provide momentum to push the nation forward.”
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS