The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are unlikely to withdraw the two proposed referendums on the nation's application to join the UN or come up with a compromise version on the referendum issue, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (
Lin said both UN plebiscites had been officially established and scheduled for a vote to coincide with the presidential election on March 22.
The Legislative Yuan does not have the authority to change the two referendums even if it were to pass a resolution, he said.
Lin said that neither the party nor the party caucus would consider proposing another plebiscite on the matter.
Lin made the comments in response to a report yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper), which quoted an unidentified source from the Presidential Office as saying that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had discussed how to ensure the success of the referendums on the nation's application to join the UN.
Hsieh also said on Monday that the KMT and the DPP should come up with a compromise version of the UN referendum that would safeguard the best interests of both parties and the public.
This marked the second time Hsieh had called for cross-party negotiations on the plebiscites to prevent them from failing and giving the international community the impression that Taiwanese do not want to join the UN.
The KMT caucus had proposed late last month that the legislature pass a binding resolution that requires the government to "return to" or "join" the UN using the nation's official title, the "Republic of China (ROC])" arguing that the new legislature represented the latest public opinion on the matter.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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