The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) invited Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said yesterday the party had extended a formal invitation to Ma on Thursday for a debate over the referendum issue in a conference "Referendum in Taiwan." The conference is part of a series of celebrations for the party's 17th anniversary on Sept. 28.
"We'd like to invite Ma to attend the DPP's referendum conference so that he can express his opinions through a debate with the administration," Lee said. "We hope Ma can choose three to five representatives from his Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] to join the debate."
Lee said Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) would lead the DPP's debate team, which also includes Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Taipei County Magistrate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮).
DPP caucus whip Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Ma has on several occasions represented the KMT in important policy discussions, including whether Article 100 of the Criminal Code, which mandates punishments for dissent and subversion, should be abolished, and whether the president should be directly elected by the public.
"We believe Ma is not one to run away from such challenges," Chen said.
In response to the DPP's invitation, Ma said the city government had received the invitation late Thursday evening, but that his aides hadn't presented the document to him.
He said he would have to read the invitation before deciding whether to attend the debate.
Taipei City Government Spokesperson Wu Yu-sheng (
"Since the referendum issue is not just a regional affair affecting Taipei City, but a constitutional issue, whether Ma will attend the debate should be decided by the party," Wu said.
KMT Spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said yesterday KMT members should avoid attending the referendum conference as the event is a campaign activity for the DPP.
"KMT members should not attend the conference. Should any debate be necessary, they should do it in the legislature," Tsai said.
Tsai said the legislature considers referendum legislation necessary to back the government's holding of a referendum next year.
He said the current spat is up to the Cabinet to resolve as the Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of the Interior are at odds over the advisory referendum conducted in Taipei County's Pinglin township. In that referendum, residents said they wanted a Pinglin exit along the Taipei-Ilan Freeway.
"It could also be a problem between the central and local governments. But, after all, it's not a party-to-party issue and, therefore, KMT members should not participate," Tsai said.
Ma has said that if the Cabinet insisted on carrying out a non-binding referendum next year without the backing of referendum legislation, Taipei City might not comply with the order to hold the referendum.
As for the conflict between Cabinet Spokesperson Lin Chia-lung and Ma over whether Ma had compared the Cabinet's handling of referendums to the Cultural Revolution, both Lin and Ma said the dispute should be laid to rest.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2