Leaders of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance refused to say yesterday whether they would accept the result of a recount.
The parties' leaders met yesterday to discuss a possible meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (
"We have received a call from the Presidential Office about the meeting," PFP Secretary-General Tsai Chung-hsiung (
On Saturday night, Chen said he had agreed to demands by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chen said the meeting could take place today without any preconditions following consultations between his chief staff and that of Lien and Soong.
"We will talk over with our KMT counterpart how to reach a consensus on this matter," Tsai said prior to meeting with his KMT counterpart at KMT headquarters yesterday afternoon.
As of press time, the alliance had yet to announce its response concerning the meeting.
Earlier yesterday, Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (
Huang added that the Presidential Office has set no conditions on where or when the meeting may take place.
KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) said that the alliance's demands are simple: an immediate recount of the March 20 vote, the assembly of a special task force to investigate the March 19 assassination attempt against Chen and a probe of the activation of the national security mechanism after the shooting.
Lien, who lost to Chen by a margin of less than 30,000 votes, has refused to concede defeat, alleging voting irregularities, for which he has not provided evidence, and raising questions about Chen's gunshot wound.
Lien's previous appeal to the Taiwan High Court for a recount was rejected on Wednesday on the grounds that the Central Election Commission (CEC) had not yet officially declared Chen the winner.
While Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a KMT vice chairman and the manager of the alliance's national campaign team, said during the rally on Saturday that the result of a recount should be accepted, alliance spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元), at a press conference later Saturday, refused to say whether Lien and Soong would accept the result.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS