The DPP's legislative caucus agreed yesterday that issues concerning public policies, such as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project, could be determined by a public referendum.
The ruling party issued a press release yesterday under mounting pressure from former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄). Lin led a group of anti-nuclear activists to a protest in front of the Executive Yuan, demanding the employment of a plebiscite to decide the future of the controversial power plant in Taipei County.
In October 2000, the government decided to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. But the following January, the government gave in to pressure from opposition parties and reversed its decision -- giving the go ahead to complete construction of the plant.
The DPP caucus leaders said that voting is a fundamental right of the people, but it will require cross-party negotiation on the application of such a law before it could be presented to the legislature.
Given the highly contentious nature of the power plant, the DPP supports the idea of a referendum determining the future of the plant's construction based on the referendum law. In this way, the procedure and legality of the referendum could be clearly regulated.
Chen Chi-mai (
In contrast to the DPP's more conservative position, the TSU vowed to push for a referendum law that can be applied to all issues, including politically sensitive subjects related to national identity.
The TSU's meeting of central executives reached an agreement that the TSU will propose a draft next Monday, calling for cross-party support in order to "return the people's rights to the people."
TSU lawmaker Chen Chien-ming (
He said people have the right to express their opinions on any issue related to their lives and this includes political issues.
The TSU's initiative has won endorsement from Chai Trong Chai (
Chen Chi-mai said his caucus has not yet decided on where it stands in regard to the TSU's scheme, adding that the details of the law would be discussed by the legislative committee once it passed the first reading.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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