The Presidential Office’s rejection of a proposal to amend the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to take into account political talks with China is indicative of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) vacillating attitude toward the issue, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
The DPP made the remarks after the Presidential Office rejected DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposal that would make it necessary to get a mandate through a referendum before the Executive Yuan could push for political talks with China.
Tsai had hoped her proposal, which she put forward on Friday, could be included before the end of the current legislative session. The proposal also stated that the conclusion of any talks should be decided through a referendum as well.
Photo: CNA
In response, Presidential Office spokesperson Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) that night rejected Tsai’s request for a meeting on the issue, saying that “it is unnecessary.”
Fan Chiang said the Referendum Act in its current form is sufficient for the issue in question and would encounter no difficulties, adding that the government would not propose any amendments to the act.
Fan Chiang said there was also no need to arrange for a meeting between Ma and Tsai, saying there would be televised platform presentations for the presidential candidates next month in which Ma, who is seeking re-election, and Tsai, who is the DPP’s presidential candidate, would be able to fully express their ideas and policies.
On the issue of whether the Referendum Act has other clauses that need to be amended, Fan Chiang said the Presidential Office would respect the opinions of the public. Unless the public reached a full consensus, there would be no rash proposal for amendments to laws, he added.
DPP spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) yesterday said that while Article 16 of the Referendum Act stipulates that the Legislative Yuan can propose a referendum and Article 17 of the act says that the president can also propose a referendum on defense matters, it does not contain an article that stipulates that when the nation’s sovereignty status is facing change, voters can decide to proceed with the change through a referendum.
Therefore, it is the DPP’s view that the government’s administrative departments are obliged to subject negotiations to a public referendum, Liang said.
“The people of Taiwan have the right to decide their own future, and if President Ma truly thinks that any cross-strait peace accords need to be subjected to a referendum, then he should support the inclusion of the clause into the Referendum Act,” Liang said, adding that such a clause should clearly limit the responsibility and obligation of the president and the government’s administrative authorities.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruey-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that according to a cable released by WikiLeaks, former Control Yuan president Fredrick Chien (錢復) told the US in 2009 after attending the Boao Forum in China that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi (王毅) told him: “We’ve done a lot for Ma [Ying-jeou], so it’s time for Ma to do some things for us. The upper echelons of Beijing wishes that Ma would convey in a more precise manner that Taiwan and China is ‘one China.’”
Looking at the language in the cable, it was not difficult to understand why Ma is bringing up such an issue at this juncture, Chuang said.
Pointing to Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) remarks on Friday that any cross-strait peace agreement would be signed in accordance with the Guidelines for National Unification (GNU) between Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the territory “outside the free area” — China — Liang said Wu’s statement revealed what Ma truly has in mind.
“Although Ma said the signing of a cross-strait peace agreement has nothing to do with unification, in accordance with the GNU’s description, a peace agreement is what the GNU designates as the ‘long-term unification by negotiation’ phase,” Liang said.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique