The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for causing his party "to degenerate" and the city's development "to regress" in the year since he assumed the chairmanship.
Speaking ahead of the first anniversary of Ma's inauguration, DPP Spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai said that several KMT politicians whose campaigns Ma supported, including Hsinchu Commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金) and Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (許財利), had been charged with corruption since assuming office.
These cases proved that "the corrupt system of the KMT has remained unchanged," he said.
Tsai said that while Ma had repeatedly promised to deal with the party's "ill-gotten" assets, the KMT had sold NT$23 billion (US$703.36 million) worth of its assets under Ma's leadership.
He said the DPP had begun a signature drive for a proposal to hold a public referendum to reclaim the KMT's "ill-gotten" assets and that it would submit more than 80,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission for review by next Wednesday.
He said that after the commission finished the review process, the DPP would initiate a second-stage signature drive with the goal of collecting 800,000 signatures by the end of the year.
The DPP hoped that the referendum will be held next year, he added.
In response, Ma yesterday said that after the KMT Central Standing Committee's meeting on Aug. 23, he would explain how the party had handled the assets, including investment profits and losses.
also see story:
Editorial: Chairman Ma, return the assets
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper