An official of the planned Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NSU), a new political party initiated by independent legislators, said yesterday the party will be formally inaugurated next Tuesday as scheduled.
NSU Secretary General Chen Chieh-ju (陳傑儒) made the remarks after a review committee of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) raised questions about using the term "non-partisan" in the name of the new party.
Chen said that the party has been in the planning for some time, adding that if the MOI has any opinions about the NSU, the party is willing to communicate with the ministry.
The party will apply to and register with the MOI as scheduled, adding that "there is no plan to change the name," he said.
He said that the party has drafted a charter and is scheduled to form a 21-member central standing committee, with current legislators serving as the natural central standing committee members.
As to when Chang Po-ya (張博雅), chairwoman of the new party's preparatory committee, will become the party's chairwoman, he said that the party will not rule out the possibility of calling for an extraordinary central standing committee meeting to nominate her for the post.
Chang, a health minister during the latter part of the era of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, mentioned earlier that the establishment of the NSU will effectively offer a middle-way choice for the people of Taiwan, who she said have long been divided into two camps.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese