Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that pushing Taiwan's participation in the UN has always been one of his concerns and not just an election campaign ploy.
He also said that Taiwan should cherish the US as a "strategic partner" and continue communicating with it about the DPP's UN referendum bid because Taiwan and the US share strategic interests.
While paying a visit yesterday to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), Hsieh reminded reporters that he had led a delegation to the UN more than a decade ago to seek membership in the world body.
"Some UN representatives told me then that Taiwan should form a unitary voice first," he said, adding that this was why the DPP had proposed holding a referendum.
Participating in the UN under the name "Taiwan" does not necessarily require changes to the Constitution or the national title, he said.
Meanwhile, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun attended a public hearing of the referendum proposal at the Cabinet's Referendum Review Committee yesterday.
On his way to the meeting, Yu told reporters that the US' disapproval of the bid was groundless because many UN members, such as Switzerland and the Republic of Macedonia, joined the organization under names that were not their national titles.
"I initiated the referendum proposal to allow Taiwanese to express their will and hope that this could increase Taiwan's participation in international affairs," Yu said.
"A referendum is a basic human right and is an internal affair. It is also a symbol of democracy. The US itself has held many referendums in the past," Yu said, adding that he could not understand why the US opposed Taiwan's referendum proposal.
"The only explanation is the US fears pressure from China. But I think the US, which wants to maintain a balance of power, should uphold justice," he said.
Singapore criticized Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum on UN membership yesterday, calling it "provocative and irresponsible."
"Singapore opposes any unilateral move to alter the status of Taiwan," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The proposal to put Taiwan's UN membership bid under the title `Taiwan' to a referendum is provocative and irresponsible."
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but