The Taiwan Society, a new pro-independence group comprising more than 100 public societies, yesterday announced its official establishment. The society's leaders vowed to push a "second wave" of democratization and create a better political and cultural environment for Taiwan.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
About 1,000 supporters, including many political heavyweights, attended the celebration and fundraising banquets. Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chih-chiang (蘇進強) yesterday showed up for the occasion.
"The establishment of the Taiwan Society does not aim to support specific people. It is for all the people of Taiwan," said Wu, who is also the chairman of the Northern Taiwan Society.
"Today is just a start. We will go on conducting many projects to rebuild people's confidence in Taiwan, and we hope that the society can become a power that stabilizes the turbulent political situation."
The Taiwan Society, which is based on the organizations of the Northern Taiwan Society, Southern Taiwan Society and Eastern Taiwan Society along with other many domestic and overseas pro-independence groups, aims to unify all the civic groups that are pro-Taiwan identity and promote political and cultural reform. Most importantly, the society hopes to fight to keep a pro-localization party in power in 2008, said Northern Taiwan Society secretary-general Chet Yang (
Yang said that the Taiwan Society will hold a series of activities to promote the society's goals, and that hopefully it would attract more young people to join in its activities.
Meanwhile, at the ceremony, Mark Chen confirmed that President Chen Shui-bian (
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
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
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A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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