The newly-formed No War Home-land Alliance said yesterday that it is seeking to hold a referendum on the NT$618 billion (US$18.07 billion) arms procurement budget pending approval in the Legislative Yuan.
The referendum push marks the latest increase in public opposition to the budget, which has been passed by the Executive Yuan. It proposes to spend the money over 15 years.
"We are not against national defense; we are against a budget which proposes taking money away from future generations of Taiwanese," alliance head Chou Sheng-hsin (
The group is calling for a referendum on two questions. The first would read: "I object to the government paying for arms purchases by selling national land, taking on debt or selling government shares in national industries [yes or no]."
The second reads: "I agree that the government should enter equal-status negotiations to arrange a 50-year peace agreement to maintain the status quo to benefit people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait [yes or no]."
The group is opposed to selling government assets or accumulating debt because it would hurt the welfare of the people, Chou said.
"If there has to be an arms budget, then we suggest levying a national tax. That way the government would have to get the approval of the people before initiating the budget," Chou said.
"We want the status quo. Hopefully, in 50 years, there will have been enough generational or ideological change for further consideration of the problem of Taiwanese independence," Chou said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS