Politics

Referendums should be open to 18-year-olds: Ko

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 09, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The voting age for Taipei referendums should be lowered to 18, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

At a meeting of the city government’s Civil Participation Committee, Ko backed a proposal to ask the Taipei City Council to revise the Referendum Autonomous Articles under consideration, lowering the voting age by two years to 18.

Ko backs voting at 18 because that is the age at which people must shoulder legal responsibility for crimes, he said, expressing incredulity that proposals to lower the voting age had “disappeared” in the fight over potential constitutional amendments.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT presidential hopeful’s health raises concerns

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/07
By: S.Y. Tang and Lillian Lin

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) The health of ruling Kuomintang presidential hopeful Hung

Hung Hsiu-chu (CNA file photo)

Hung Hsiu-chu (CNA file photo)

Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) raised public concern Tuesday in the wake of reports that she has in the past been treated at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) for stage 1 breast cancer.

Yu Tzu-hsiang (游梓翔), spokesman of Hung’s campaign office, declined to comment on the reports, saying that personal health is a matter of privacy.

He added, however, that Hung will find an appropriate time to respond to inquiries regarding her health.     [FULL  STORY]

Lai continues to dodge city council

Taipei Times
Date: , Jul 07, 2015
By: Tsai Wen-chu  /  Staff reporter

Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party yesterday

Tainan Mayor William Lai points to a clause in the Code of Civil Procedure that he said is relevant to vote-buying charges against Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao during a news conference in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

Tainan Mayor William Lai points to a clause in the Code of Civil Procedure that he said is relevant to vote-buying charges against Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao during a news conference in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

repeated that he and other Tainan City Government officials would not attend the Tainan City Council’s question-and-answer session, which is set to begin today.

Instead, he and other officials would respond to councilors’ questions on paper, Lai said.

Lai has been boycotting city council meetings since January, saying that he would not attend until the resolution of corruption cases against Tainan Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Citing the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which stipulates that courts must conclude election-related cases within six months, Lai yesterday urged the court to rule on the case as soon as possible.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai rejects report of her father using clout in land deal

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 05, 2015
By Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday

Tsai Ing-wen addresses the DPP Central Standing Committee, June 10. (Photo/CNA)

Tsai Ing-wen addresses the DPP Central Standing Committee, June 10. (Photo/CNA)

rebutted a media report that her father had illegally obtained a plot of land in Taipei that originally belonged to the military.

“My father was a car mechanic at the time, so he would not have been able to exercise any influence on the US military assistance advisory group or the armed forces. That would have been impossible,” Tsai said when asked about a report published by the Chinese-language China Times Weekly magazine. “Anyone with common sense would know that under an authoritarian regime, someone working as a mechanic would not have such influence. It is a made-up story.”

The magazine report claimed the plot of land on Zhongshan N Road where seafood restaurant Hai Pa Wang (海霸王) is located used to belong to the military, alleging Tsai Ing-wen’s father, Tsai Chieh-sheng (蔡潔生), used his influence to purchase the land.

Tsai Ing-wen said the land was not military property, but had originally been designated for the construction of a park and in 1965 was rezoned for “construction.”

KMT National Congress will be held as scheduled: official

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-05
By: CNA

Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang will not postpone the National Congress scheduled for July

KMT secretary-general Lee Shih-chuan. (File photo/Chen Yi-cheng)

KMT secretary-general Lee Shih-chuan. (File photo/Chen Yi-cheng)

19 but will keep the event simple and solemn, KMT secretary-general Lee Shih-chuan said Saturday.

Lee was responding to a proposal by KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua that the party put off the National Congress in the wake of the tragic fire at a New Taipei water park on June 27 that left two dead and over 400 injured.

According to Lee Shih-chuan, the National Congress is coming very soon, and all party representatives will attend.

Because some party representatives living overseas have taken leave of absence and booked their flight tickets, it would be difficult to change the date of the National Congress now, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

‘Diligent and elderly’ James Soong biding time on presidential bid

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-02
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

James Soong, head of the minor blue-aligned People First Party, said Wednesday that

James Soong speaks at a PFP press conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, July 1. (File photo/CNA)

James Soong speaks at a PFP press conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, July 1. (File photo/CNA)

he will consider whether to run in Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election but that now is not the right time to make a final decision.

His decision will largely hinge on whether the policies of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the ruling Kuomintang are “hijacked” by their fundamentalist factions, Soong added.

Describing himself as a diligent elderly Taiwanese man, the 73-year-old Soong said he has been closely observing Taiwan in a bid to figure out the country’s current situation.

Soong, who is also a chief advisor to Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, said he wants to let all Taiwan’s people keep their heads up in the face of the world and the other side of the Taiwan Strait and say what they really think.     [FULL  STORY]

Independence party enters fray

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 03, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Senior Taiwanese independence campaigners yesterday announced that they are

Political commentator and Taiwan Independence Action Party cofounder Chin Heng-wei poses in Taipei on Wednesday. Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times

Political commentator and Taiwan Independence Action Party cofounder Chin Heng-wei poses in Taipei on Wednesday. Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times

establishing the Taiwan Independence Action Party (TIAP), saying that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been diverted from the independence movement.

Led by political commentator Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), former presidential advisers Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) and Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), and former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), the group delivered its application to register a new political party to the Ministry of the Interior.

Its objective is to get politicians supporting independence into the Legislative Yuan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to shun AIIB if sovereignty compromised: ministry

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-01
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance said Tuesday that the country would rather not join the

DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung. (Photo/Chang Lih-sun)

DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung. (Photo/Chang Lih-sun)

China-led Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) if its national sovereignty would be compromised by doing so, as some media reports have indicated.

The ministry made the statement in the wake of reports that Beijing has changed a rule for accepting members who do not enjoy national sovereignty or cannot take responsibility for the conduct of their international relations.

Spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party Juan Chao-hsiung said that some international media see the rule as designed specifically for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, “apparently aimed at downgrading Taiwan’s international status.”

He urged the government to make a thorough report to the Legislature before presenting its application for joining the AIIB so that the lawmakers will have a chance to fully discuss the issue.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP denies ties to park manager, calls for probe

POLITICAL MANUEVER?An online message alleges that the DPP has been quiet about the water park tragedy because of its financial links to the party

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 02, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday asked police to investigate an online rumor alleging that the general manager of the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park in New Taipei City is a financial supporter of the party.

The water park is the site of an explosion on Saturday that injured nearly 500 people and killed one person.

“While the entire nation prays and tries by all means to help victims of the explosion, there are politically calculating people who are taking advantage of the tragedy by making false accusations against the DPP,” Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), a lawyer, said outside the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division headquarters before going inside to file a police report.     [FULL  STORY]

Soong mulls presidential run

TURNING GREEN:The PFP chairman said the party has stayed true to Sun Yat-sen’s principles and followed Chiang Ching-kuo in safeguarding democracy in Taiwan.  By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday said he would

People First Party Chairman James Soong, center, yesterday cheers for the party’s candidates for next year’s legislative elections during a news conference in Taipei. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

People First Party Chairman James Soong, center, yesterday cheers for the party’s candidates for next year’s legislative elections during a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

consider running for president if he thinks the two major parties’ policies have been “hijacked by fundamentalists.”

The PFP held a press conference in Taipei to announce its five legislative candidates for the Jan. 16 elections. Three of the candidates are former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, including Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who just withdrew from the KMT earlier this week.

Soong likened the KMT to an apothecary that “sells counterfeit medicine.”

“It is not that the PFP has turned ‘green,’” Soong said, addressing criticism that the party has aligned itself with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). “It is that we can no longer say for sure whether the KMT is lan [藍, blue] or just lan [爛, rotten].”     [FULL  STORYU]