The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Executive Committee yesterday passed the party's "normal country" resolution draft. It decided to keep Monday's draft version, which states the need for the nation to hold a referendum stressing Taiwan's independent statehood at an appropriate time.
The final resolution includes an additional clause, which says that the nation should adopt the Gregorian calendar and drop the Republic of China (ROC) or minkuo (
However, the committee rejected a proposal by committee member and DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), who headed the task force that had been responsible for writing the draft, to specify "Taiwan" as the national title.
At a media conference after the meeting, Chai said the committee members believed his proposal was redundant because Monday's draft version clearly conveyed the concept of "Taiwan" as the nation's name.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun told the media conference that the resolution would be presented for approval at the party's national congress on Sept. 30.
The resolution will become part of the DPP's platform if it is approved by the congress, party rules state.
Asked for comment, committee member Lin Yao-wen (
"I believe the `normal country' resolution will lead the DPP in the right direction," he said.
The party established the task force to draft the resolution on May 16 and unveiled the first version on Aug. 1. This draft highlighted the need for the country to change its official title to "Taiwan."
However, Yu's and Hsieh's camps disagreed about the content and wording of the first draft, with Hsieh's supporters expressing concern that the resolution might have a negative impact on his electoral performance.
In a bid to have the draft resolution passed at yesterday's meeting, task force discussions were opened to members of the Central Executive Committee, some of whom are close to Hsieh.
The task force on Monday completed the version that was put to the committee for review yesterday.
Unlike the Aug. 1 version, Monday's draft states that the nation should correct its national title and write a new constitution "as soon as possible," without specifying which name the nation should adopt.
The final version does not propose a timetable for when these goals are to be realized.
The Northern Taiwan Society on Tuesday said the latest draft was "unacceptable," as its discourse remained firmly rooted within the "ROC system."
A letter by society vice chairwoman Michelle Wang (王美琇) appeared on yesterday's opinion page of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) saying the group was concerned that Hsieh's campaign strategy was "too conservative."
"There is an obvious gap between the strategy, public opinion and the current political situation," she said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS