President Chen Shui-bian (
"It's a peace promotion bill on the surface, but a surrender law in reality," Chen said.
"It would give China the power to decide on the future of Taiwan's 23 million people," he said. "If it is passed, I'm afraid ... 2 million Taiwanese would take to the streets to oppose it."
Chen's first public comments on the cross-strait peace advancement bill (
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) have tried to use their legislative majority to pass the bill proposed by the PFP.
The proposed bill would let a 19-member special committee -- instead of the president -- decide on major issues related to China.
The pan-blues say the measure is needed because Chen is subverting the popular will by stalling on efforts to end the ban on direct links.
Beijing's offers -- made during opposition leaders' visits to China this spring -- have included concessions on trade and other issues.
The Procedural Committee meeting on Tuesday will decide whether to put the bill on the agenda of the Oct. 25 plenary legislative session.
The DPP says the bill is illegal and would usurp the president's constitutional authority.
Under the proposed bill, a committee of academics and officials -- appointed by political parties in proportion to their numbers in the legislature -- would handle negotiations with China and decide on major issues related to China.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun
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