Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that there were “practical difficulties” to overcome before the country would be able to introduce absentee voting, suggesting that the government would not pursue the plan unless it has wide public support.
He was responding to an appeal at the Executive Yuan from a group of young Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas.
“Absentee voting has been used in many advanced democracies for many years, but you can imagine Taiwanese businesspeople voting in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen ... Don’t you think there will be questions over whether anything might affect their vote?” Wu said.
Wu said “there is no chance in sight” that Taiwanese living abroad would soon be able to vote by absentee ballot.
Wu’s remarks contradicted recent comments made by Central Election Commission Chairman Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏), who told a legislative question-and-answer session in November that the commission would work toward instituting an absentee voting system and it was close to the implementation stage.
Head of the business group, Lin Ying-chun (林映君), told Wu that overseas Taiwanese expected the Executive Yuan and the legislature to push through legislation to allow absentee voting.
“Whenever there is a significant election, we always fly home against the clock, but seats and our time are always limited,” Lin said.
The group also called on the government to repeal a tax policy implemented this year that residents of Taiwan whose annual income from overseas exceeds NT$1 million (US$31,000) and annual domestic income exceeds NT$6 million have to pay a 20 percent tax on earnings from overseas.
“I heard from many other people that they are thinking of canceling their household registration to save the trouble of filing a tax return. If this happens, the country will suffer more tax revenue losses,” Lin said.
The Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) has been trying to persuade the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to revise the new tax policy by exempting people who are domiciled in the country but live here less than 183 days a year.
Wu said the OCAC had cited the regulation that governs army enlistment of draftees with dual citizenship as an example and wished to apply it to the tax policy, but the ministry had other concerns.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from