The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) yesterday unveiled its campaign theme for the legislative elections in January, vowing to push policies that improve public livelihoods, promote Aboriginal rights and ensure optimal land use to serve public interests.
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, GPT co-convener Lee Ken-cheng (李根政) urged the public to “stand up” for the values they believe is best for Taiwan, to change the nation for the better.
He said society has benefited greatly because of the people who stood up to right the government’s wrongs, such as the residents of New Taipei’s Gongliao District (貢寮), whose strong protests prompted the authorities to halt the construction of the problematic Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Accusing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of favoring big businesses, while neglecting the needs of ordinary people, he said this has led to more lenient laws and in turn caused many of today’s social problems.
“Taiwan is where we live and where we die. However, after two changes of government, it is becoming clearer that the KMT’s and the DPP’s professed love for this land is manifested in their connivances with corporations, which has seized our land, destroyed the environment and marginalized the farming sector, giving rise to a host of food safety scandals,” he said.
The government has set low corporate tax rates and cut the budget for social welfare to help businesses cope with global competition, but the fruit of the nation’s economic development has not trickled down to the public, Lee said.
He called on the public to support the party, saying that the GPT has served as a government watchdog for more than a decade and has always stood on the side of social justice.
GPT standing committee member Biho Wilanglawa, an Amis and Dayan Aborigine, said that many bills on protecting Aboriginal rights have languished in the legislature because of political bartering between the KMT and DPP, and the ones that have been passed are mostly empty legislation that does not bring any real benefits to Aborigines.
The party acknowledges the role of Aborigines and will fight for their rights and welfare in the legislature, he said.
GPT Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli office secretary-general Tang Lin-hsiang (湯琳翔) said that, starting today, the party would visit campuses and other public areas to talk, listen and record public expectations for the nation.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS