Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chi-ming (
Lo said the referendum gives Taiwanese people the chance to make the international community hear their voice.
Yeh, meanwhile, accused President Chen Shui-bian (
The referendum will ask voters: "If China refuses to withdraw the missiles targeted at Taiwan and does not give up its military threats, do you agree that the government should buy more anti-missile weapons and equipment to strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities?"
Lo said, "If the result of Taiwan's first referendum is invalid [due to less than 50 percent of eligible voters casting ballots] or if half of voters choose not to enhance the military's anti-missile capabilities, then how could Taiwanese people expect the international community to assist Taiwan in defending itself against China in the future?"
"Those who oppose the referendum use all-out efforts to censure President Chen but say nothing to blame China," Lo said. "They just can't see any threat from those 500 missiles as well as its huge armaments expansion; rather, they point the finger at Taiwan's democratic development."
Yeh, also a former DPP legislator, insisted that the referendum is unconstitutional.
"According to the ROC Constitution, even though the president has the right to issue an emergency decree, it still needs the approval of the Legislative Yuan," Yeh said.
He said Chen's moves will lead to a dictatorship.
"Minister of Defense Tang Yao-ming (
"The ruling DPP and President Chen just try to sway the public by using emotional discourse, such as by saying the referendum is a universal value and a mechanism to secure Taiwan's sovereignty. However, they avoid rational discussion," Yeh said. "How could the president ignore the spirit of the Constitution?"
When asked by moderator Lo Chih-cheng, a political science professor at Soochow University, whether the missile threat shows China's intention to invade Taiwan, Yeh said Taiwan should rely on a political strategy to protect itself rather than on an arms race.
"I believe that China has no capability and inclination to attack Taiwan for the time being," Yeh said.
Lo Chi-ming said that a US evaluation of China's military has already warned that Beijing is prepared to launch military action against Taiwan at any moment.
"Moreover, even the advertisements of the People's Liberation Army clearly used a slogan about liberating Taiwan as soon as possible," Lo said. "How could anybody ignore China's intention?"
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
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China used fake LinkedIn profiles to harvest sensitive data from NATO and EU institutions by soliciting information from staff, a European security source said on Friday. The operation, allegedly orchestrated by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, targeted dozens of employees at the military alliance or EU organizations through fictitious accounts, the source said, confirming reports in French and Belgian media. Posing as recruiters on the online professional networking platform, Chinese spies would initially request paid reports before later soliciting non-public or even classified information. One particularly active fake profile used the name “Kevin Zhang,” claiming to be the head
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