The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said it would push for amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to allow the public to vote on changing the Constitution and national territory, which it said are “the most important issues the public should be able to decide in a direct democracy.”
With the new legislative session set to begin on Friday, the NPP said that its priorities include amending the Referendum Act and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
The party had proposed the same amendments in December last year, but they were vetoed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Photo: CNA
Asked to comment on the DPP’s previous response, NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said: “Why was the DPP brave enough to call for a referendum that would turn Taiwan into a normal nation when it was an opposition party, but abandoned the idea when it became the ruling party? By refusing to back the amendments, it ignored the most important issues people should be able to decide in a direct democracy, what the Referendum Act still owes the people.”
Whether people should be allowed to vote on the Constitution and national territory has been a subject of debate for more than 20 years, he said, adding that he hopes the DPP “would not make the same mistake again.”
The NPP will also promote amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area that would strip Chinese residency cardholders of their household registration in Taiwan, NPP caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
With more than 20,000 Taiwanese reportedly having applied for the card, the NPP would propose that they be allowed to keep their household registration if they cancel their card within a certain period, he said, adding that is likely to be two months.
Asked if the party would back a KMT proposal to abolish the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) following a scandal involving the Transitional Justice Commission last week, Hsu said the party would oppose it, but that it supports a personnel reshuffle at the commission and the promotion of a lustration law.
Commission Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) is “incompetent” and must be removed from his position, Huang Kuo-chang said.
Instead of thinking about what he could have done better, he simply said he has not had time to read internal documents, Huang Kuo-chang said.
When asked about the scandal, Huang Huang-hsiung on Monday said that he had not had a chance to read most of the official documents until the middle of July and that it was not until last month that work finally got on track at the commission, which was founded in May.
Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) resigned on Wednesday last week as commission deputy chairman after the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine published a transcript of a commission meeting on Aug. 24, in which he proposed promoting a lustration law to influence public opinion about KMT New Taipei City mayoral candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜).
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify