The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday criticized the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) planned march tomorrow to oppose the government’s decision to relax restrictions on US beef as an election gambit.
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said the march was initiated by Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) of the DPP.
Information the KMT gathered from southern Taiwan indicated that the event was organized to set the stage for Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (?]) and former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山), who have expressed an interest in the party’s nomination for next year’s mayoral election in Tainan City, which will be integrated with Tainan County into a special municipality, Lee said.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Su, along with a number of civic groups, has called on the public to join a demonstration in Taipei tomorrow to protest the central government’s decision to lift the ban on US bone-in beef and beef organs.
The demonstration will start at Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station at 2pm and end on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, where a rally will take place until 9pm.
Rebutting Lee’s accusation, DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), at a separate setting yesterday, said the central government’s decision to widen US beef access into Taiwan has spurred strong objection from all sides, especially from the public.
A string of civic groups such as the John Tung Foundation and the Consumers’ Foundation are calling for a referendum to be held on the issue, he pointed out.
Tsai said several pan-blue heads of local government, such as Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), have also spoken out against the lifting of the ban, “but their objection is merely a show because they are unwilling to take concrete action to oppose the policy.”
“The demand for the government to safeguard public health should be backed up with bipartisan support and it is very regrettable that the KMT has chosen to smear the issue and disrespected the people’s will,” Tsai said.
Despite the possibility of the US agreeing to a new round of talks being slim, the DPP will continue to make the demand, Tsai said.
He added that the party would exhaust every measure to force the government to launch fresh talks before considering employing other methods such as organizing a consumer boycott of US beef.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we