The Legislative Yuan has passed the Referendum Law (公民投票法), but President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that there is a long way to go toward establishing the mechanism of direct democracy.
"Many in the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] have made great efforts to realize the Referendum Law," Chen said while inspecting a construction site in Taoyuan County.
"Since I declared in June that I would call a national referendum on three topics, many [pan-blue] politicians have criticized me and tried their best to oppose the idea," Chen said.
"They told the public that the referendum is equal to independence and will only bring war," Chen said. "Now, they have followed my idea and they became the main power that facilitated the passage of the Referendum Law."
The president said that although the DPP is not satisfied with the new law, the government is confident that obstacles on the road to referendums will be removed soon.
"People will realize which party is against democracy and reform," Chen said.
The rival pan-green and pan-blue camps both decided to hold campaign rallies in Taoyuan County this weekend.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) plans to elaborate on the pan-blue alliance's referendum platform.
"Lien will announce that the KMT-PFP alliance plans to hold five national referendums on the same day of the presidential election next March," said KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (
Lien said the biggest differences between the pan-blue and DPP versions of the referendum bill were that the pan-blue camp wants to maintain the ROC's structure; that its referendum aims to solve people's problems instead of creating problems; and that the pan-blue camp will create happiness for the people. Lien said the blue camp's referendum plan is a boost to national development, unlike the DPP's version, which he called a hurdle to economic development.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
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One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
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