The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday demanded that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “reveal her stance” on the abolition of the death penalty, which is supported by candidates of the New Power Party (NPP), which the DPP endorses.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏), KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) criticized NPP legislative candidate Freddy Lim (林昶佐) over his burning of a Republic of China flag, and calls for the legalization of marijuana and the abolition of capital punishment.
The KMT officials asked whether Tsai endorses Lim’s actions and beliefs.
“NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Lim and Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), the party’s district legislative candidates, are all for the abolition of capital punishment. Chairperson Tsai, do you support their stance?” Wang Hong-wei asked. “It is a question that should not be shunned.”
“There have been small, innocent children murdered in Taipei. Do we still want the death penalty to be abolished?” Alicia Wang asked.
“Seeing lives being taken and society plunged into fear by people like Cheng Chieh (鄭捷), do we still want to do away with capital punishment?” she asked.
Cheng attacked passengers on Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit system on May 21, 2014, killing four people and injuring 22 on the Bannan Line.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,