The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will give its full support to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) New Year's pledges, in which he resolved to protect the nation's sovereignty and offered a blueprint for the nation's development in the next two years, a top DPP official said yesterday.
Shortly after Chen made his New Year's speech yesterday morning, DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), speaking on behalf of the party, said that the DPP will strongly back Chen's commitments, which meet "public expectations."
Direction
"President Chen has worked out the key points of the country's new direction for the next two years, including guarding Taiwan's sovereignty, defending national security, insisting on reform and vowing to build up a government free from corruption," Lee said. "These are not only expectations of the social mainstream but are also the DPP's long-term values."
"The DPP will be united and give its full support to the president. We also hope that the people of Taiwan will recognize the president's efforts and give him encouragement," he said.
Lee said that the DPP agrees with Chen's declaration that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to the nation's 23 million people, that Taiwanese should not assume that unification with China is inevitable and that China should not force the Taiwanese people to accept unification through non-peaceful means.
"It is a core value of democratic Taiwan that the people of Taiwan have free will to decide their future. The DPP has upheld this belief and will never give it up," Lee said.
Denying sovereignty
Lee also criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair-man Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who argues that unification with China is the ultimate goal for Taiwan and would negate Taiwan's autonomy and deny its sovereignty.
"We really regret Ma's pro-China stance. It is unacceptable that Ma takes China's side on unification and treats it as the only choice for Taiwan," Lee said.
Lee also promised that the DPP would remold itself and do its best to regain public trust in the party's integrity.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS