Social activists yesterday showed their approval of Chen Shui-bian (
Basing their opinion on Chen's performance as Taipei City mayor, the activists said they were confident that Chen could do a much better job than the KMT.
Social activists in organizations representing labor, women, Aborigines and earthquake victims, jointly affirmed their belief in the future new government yesterday.
"The voice of the masses will be listened to more in the future," said Liglove Awu (
Chen's victory in the presidential race could act as a stimulus to the nascent struggle of Taiwan's Aboriginal population for more autonomy.
Last September Chen signed a bilateral agreement, or "New Partnership" document, with 11 representatives from Aboriginal ethnic groups. In the agreement, Chen recognized many innate privileges that should be enjoyed by Aborigines, such as local autonomy and the native ownership of land.
"We signed this agreement on the basis of equality and a consensus to pursue autonomy," said Omi Wilang (
Peng Yen-wen (
Peng said Chen had implemented solid women's policies during his term as Taipei Mayor.
"His experience coordinating with social groups in Taipei is applicable nationwide," Peng said.
Participation by women in politics has been one of Chen's policy platforms. Peng said Chen promised a minimum 25 percent female recruitment rate in the Cabinet, the Council of Grand Justices, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan.
"All of these promises should be due [for implementation] soon after Chen's inauguration," Peng said.
High expectations have also been found among labor groups. On March 11, Chen promised the Committee of Action for the Labor Legislature (CALL, 工人立法行動委員會) to implement labor changes by 2002, and reduce working hours from the existing 48 hours per week to 40 hours.
"Chen seldom overlooked his promised labor policies in his term as Taipei Mayor. We expect and believe he will do a better job than the present government," said the secretary-general of the Taiwan Labour Front, Kuo Kuo-wen (
The prospective candidate for Premier, Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (
"Lee knows all the problems of reconstruction much better than the government," said Peng Sheng-chin (
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
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