Some 20 members of the Committee for Action for Labor Legislation (工人立法行動委員會) went to the Legislative Yuan yesterday to demand that two DPP legislators who had accused organizers of a workers' demonstration of "working for China" to prove their accusations or resign.
"The two legislators abused their rights of free speech. They just want to distract attention from the government's labor policies," said Ho Yian-tang (
DPP legislators Lee Ming-hsien (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
They alleged that one of the committee's founders, Cheng Tsun-chi (
They also said that the secretary-general of the Chinese Federation of Labor, Wang Juan-ping (王娟萍), is close to the Chinese government, citing her attendance at Chinese national day celebrations in Beijing on Oct 1.
The protesters did not succeed in confronting the two legislators. But DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) promised that he would urge the two to provide explanations for their comments within three days.
Later yesterday, the two legislators, speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan, reiterated their worries that Taiwanese workers "may be being manipulated by anti-Taiwan forces."
"We received the information from our friends doing business in China, but we can't release their names," Lee Ming-hsien told reporters.
Ho said that they would continue to protest until the two legislators offer a reasonable explanation.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400