As the campaign for next month's elections heats up, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday appealed to voters with what it called "positive solutions to serious problems in Taiwan" by announcing the 10 bills it vowed to pass into law.
The 10 bills, including the political party law (政黨法), the lobbying bill (遊說法), the administrative zoning law (行政區劃法), the fiscal discipline law (財政紀律法) and the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), will be the KMT caucus' priority, according to the party.
"These 10 bills illustrate that, as the country's biggest oppos-ition party, the KMT does not only criticize the government or ex-pose abuse cases relentlessly, but also works hard to provide positive solutions to the country's problems," KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday, during a press conference to introduce the 10 bills.
Stressing the party's reform efforts, Ma said the political party law and the lobbying bill made a priority of regulating political contributions, lobbying and political parties. The fiscal discipline law, on the other hand, could prevent the government from wasting the country's money or acting corruptly, like he said it was now.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and Taipei county commissioner candidate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) attended the press conference to promote the administrative zoning law.
There are only two special municipalities in the country: Taipei City and Kaohsiung City. The KMT is promoting the merger of Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung cities and counties, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is against the idea.
Upon announcing each of the 10 main bills, Ma put a small pack of Chinese medicine into a big pot, a gesture to symbolize that the bills will work as the medicine for what the party called an "ill Taiwan." The party will continue its campaigning efforts and launch its print-version campaign ads today.
Meanwhile, in an attempted response to the KMT's parade that will be held on Nov. 26 to protest the DPP government's recent scandals, the DPP will launch a nationwide march on Nov. 27 to promote its local-elections campaign and denounce the KMT's accusations.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday announced the campaign activity, as decided by the central executive committee.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang