Advocates yesterday called on lawmakers to lower the voting age to 18, a day after the Legislative Yuan’s Procedures Committee placed a related bill on the legislative agenda for tomorrow.
The bill — which would involve amending Article 1 of the Constitution — must pass the legislature by the end of this month if it is to be ratified in a referendum held concurrently with the local elections on Nov. 26.
Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, youth rights groups said that legislators must vote for the bill or be “condemned by history.”
Photo: CNA
Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy president Chang Yu-meng (張育萌) said that partisanship should not get in the way of enfranchising young people, a goal to which he said Taiwan has never been closer.
Japan, Malaysia and South Korea have amended their laws to lower the voting age, he said, adding that Taiwan must not become a holdout among the world’s democracies by denying young people the right to vote.
Lin Yu-sheng (林于聖), deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare, said reducing the age threshold would help young people find their political voice and inject energy into political discussions.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights deputy secretary-general Wang Si (王曦) said that political parties must back the constitutional amendment as they have promised, adding that young people should at a minimum be able to establish civil groups and assemble as current laws implicitly allow.
Students from more than 100 high schools have joined the call to support the amendment on social media with the hashtag “votefor18,” and plan to demonstrate outside the Legislative Yuan as lawmakers vote on the bill, they said.
Lawmakers’ deliberations on the bill are to be broadcast live at the protest site, they added.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS