The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged the public to support its referendum on "rejoining" the UN and boycott the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) referendum on joining the world body.
The two referendums will be held together with the presidential election next Saturday.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) lashed out at President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for using the referendum to manipulate the presidential election and provoke the US, which has expressed its opposition to the DPP's pursuit of "name change via the referendum."
"The DPP referendum has brought danger across the Taiwan Strait and squeezed Taiwan's international space," Wu said, announcing the KMT's decision after a meeting of the Central Standing Committee at party headquarters.
The DPP referendum proposes joining the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT initiative calls for rejoining the world body under the name "Republic of China" or any other "practical title" that upholds the nation's dignity.
Wu said that the KMT-initiated referendum was an expression of the public's desire to join the UN and other international organizations in a flexible and pragmatic way without damaging US-Taiwan relations.
Wu and KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (
"Although the KMT's version was presented by KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
While urging voters to support the KMT's referendum bid, Wu said the party would respect members who boycott both referendums.
"We understand and respect such a stance. They plan to boycott both referendums as a protest against the president's manipulation of referendums," Wu said.
In response to Chen's offer to decouple the referendums from the presidential election in return for lowering the voting threshold for referendums, Wu said the threshold was set by the legislature and the KMT would not respond to the president's unreasonable request.
Wu said the party was willing to review the Referendum Law (公投法) after the election, but not now.
The Referendum Law requires a 50 percent voter turnout -- or approximately 8 million voters -- for the results to be declared valid.
Wu also promised to continue pushing a KMT proposal called "Taiwanese People's Demand to Join the UN" in the legislature.
In response to the KMT's decision, the DPP legislative caucus yesterday urged the KMT and its supporters to respect the spirit of democracy and participate in both referendums.
"The KMT is more than welcome to encourage its supporters to support or veto either of the two referendums but, please, do not give up your rights for both," DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said at a press conference.
Lai said that the KMT's proposal had been endorsed by more than 1 million people and boycotting it would mean contradicting itself.
"You can vote no, but you should participate in the referendum. That is the message we would like to deliver to the KMT and its supporters," Lai said.
Meanwhile, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign team yesterday lambasted the KMT for its contradictory position and "two-faced tactics" on the referendum.
"On the one hand, it seems it is in favor of the referendum, but on the other, it is boycotting it. This is dishonest," Hsieh spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (
As a responsible party, the KMT owes the public a clear account on where it stood or it would be cheating its supporters, Cheng said.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling and Jimmy Chuang
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA