Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has signed a petition and issued an open letter to party representatives to call for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on medical grounds.
Su signed the petition — launched by several doctors, including National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — after drawing criticism earlier for refusing to sign it despite his verbal support.
“We call on supporters to sign the petition and express our concerns about the former president’s health and right to medical treatment,” Su told reporters after the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
He also issued an open letter to 266 party representatives nationwide who serve as city or county councilors and 45 opinion leaders to appeal for their support.
The DPP urged the city and county councilors to propose resolutions in support of Chen’s release for medical treatment, Su said.
These moves were part of follow-up efforts of a resolution the party passed on June 27, he said.
The agenda and proposals for the party’s national congress, which will be held on Sunday, were discussed at the Central Standing Committee meeting.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) voiced support for a proposal to reinstate members voting as part of the party’s election-nomination process — an idea that has already won the support of many party members.
Former DPP legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said he would propose launching a recall of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in about 10 constituencies, adding that he had collected about 50 signatures.
If the recall movement was successful and the DPP was able to win eight seats in the by-elections, it would be the first time in history that the DPP would control the legislature with an absolute majority, Chai said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
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