The Peace and Neutrality for Taiwan Alliance, led by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), yesterday stated its intention to hold a referendum for a neutral Taiwan in tandem with local elections next year, urging President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to sign and promulgate the amended Referendum Act (公民投票法) as soon as possible.
Lu told a news conference in Taipei that she believes that Taiwan must pursue neutrality and should not “sit idly by and wait for the end to come,” while sandwiched between China and the US.
We must make our own path and with the amendment of the Referendum Act, it is possible for the 23 million people of Taiwan to, with collective public wisdom, formulate the correct sort of public consciousness, Lu said.
Photo: George Tseng, Taipei Times
Our path would be one of peaceful neutrality, to focus on humanitarian efforts, to befriend the US and the Japanese while making peace with the Chinese, Lu said, adding that the ultimate goal is to establish friendly and egalitarian relations with other nations around the globe.
The proposal has more than 20,000 supporting signatures and was drafted in accordance with the original Referendum Act, the alliance said.
With the amendments passed on Tuesday, the proposal has reached the revised threshold.
Under the amended act, the threshold for initiation of a referendum was lowered from 0.005 percent of the electorate in the most recent presidential election — or about 90,000 people — to 0.0001 percent — or about 1,800 — while the second-stage signature threshold was dropped from 5 percent — or 900,000 voters — to 1.5 percent — or about 280,000.
The passing requirement has been amended to a simple majority vote that would see any referendum act passed if supporting votes exceed nay-saying votes and comprise one-quarter — instead of half — of the eligible voting population.
Once Tsai signs the bill, the alliance plans to submit its proposal to the Central Election Commission, Lu said, adding that the plan is to gather 280,000 signatures within six months and hold the referendum alongside next year’s nine-in-one local elections.
Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said that the Chinese “One Belt, One Road” policy and the US “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” policy is a new balance of terror.
The neutrality of Taiwan would not only maintain its safety, but also diffuse tension between the two world powers, a contribution to both Taiwan and the world alike, Kao said.
Former Nantou County commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯) said he supports the “neutral Taiwan” concept out of concern that Taiwan’s national identity has been divided by potential resumption of hostilities with China.
In addition, Lu said that she is planning a forum to be held in March on the possibility and effects of Taiwan becoming neutral.
More than 30 experts and academics are to be invited from more than 10 countries, including the US and Japan, Lu said, adding that she is also trying to invite Chinese experts to the forum.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not