Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday congratulated Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) for surpassing the required 30 percent approval rating threshold in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary process, and urged her to persuade her colleagues at the legislature to support lowering the legal voting age to 18.
“I would like to extend my congratulations to Hung for the very good result in the poll. It is a very big responsibility and a heavy burden to win the party’s nomination,” Tsai said on Facebook. “As a female politician, I would like to extend my sincerest wishes.”
Tsai said that althogh Hung had released a video clip expressing her support for lowering the voting age to 18, “unfortunately, the constitutional amendment that would make it happen might never pass the legislature, since the KMT caucus insists on tying it to other amendment proposals.”
Photo: Chang An-chiao, Taipei Times
“At this critical junction, I hope that Hung uses her influence to persuade her colleagues in the Legislative Yuan to stop obstructing the development of civil rights for young people,” Tsai said.
Tsai said she welcomed the participation of young people in public affairs, and that the Sunflower movement and the debate over the Ministry of Education’s plan to adjust high-school curriculum guidelines are evidence of young people’s maturity and enthusiasm.
“Eighteen is an age full of hope and zeal — it is like the rising sun that can end the darkness and light up the nation’s future,” Tsai said. “We should allow them the civil rights that belong to them, so that they can provide momentum to push the nation forward.”
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS