Saying that Taiwan is now faced with a “crisis” because of regression in its economy, democracy and sovereignty, a group of pro-localization organizations yesterday said they would start a nationwide tour to “wake up the public’s sense of crisis.”
“As the result of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] ‘absolute power and absolute out-of-control’ governance, Taiwan is now faced with a crisis of regression,” Michelle Wang (王美琇), deputy secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society, told a press conference in Taipei yesterday. “Only by building public consensus can there be enough power to turn Taiwan’s crisis around.”
‘THREE BIG LINKS’
Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), Taiwan Society secretary-general, said the groups would hold a series of speeches around the country, “and let the public know that the nation’s sovereignty and security are now at risk and call on people to be aware of how the three direct links are impacting Taiwan.”
Last Monday, Taiwan and China started daily direct passenger flights, direct cargo flights and direct shipping links, also known as the “three big links.”
On direct air links, Luo said that direct flights to Beijing were considered domestic routes, but the KMT government cheated people by saying that it was a “special route.”
POSTAL LINKS
Regarding to the direct postal service, Lo said that in the past, mail going to any place outside Taiwan was categorized as international mail.
“But currently mail going to China is marked as ‘international [regional],’ which is to say Taiwan is an area of China,” he said, referring to Chunghwa Post Co’s (中華郵政) move to change the name of its international express mail service for deliveries to China to “international [regional] express mail service.”
Lo also warned of diseases and substandard food products that could pose a greater risk without strict control mechanisms under the new links.
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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Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
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