The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday reached an agreement that the two parties' presidential candidates, President Chen Shui-bian (
KMT Secretary General Lin Feng-cheng (
Although the two camps failed to reach agreement on the date and the topics to be covered, they concluded that only Chen and Lien would participate in the debate in their capacities as presidential candidates. People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Lien's running mate in the election, would not participate in the debate.
The two sides also agreed that each party would form a five-person task force to conduct further talks on the debate. The ten task force members will convene for the first time at the KMT's headquarters next Monday.
The DPP proposed three dates for the debate: Dec. 1, Dec. 4 or Dec. 5, while the KMT offered to debate on Dec. 25, the anniversary of the promulgation of the ROC Constitution.
The two sides clashed over the topics to be debated after the KMT demanded that the DPP should propose its version of the new constitution before February next year.
The KMT recently proposed amending the ROC Constitution following the DPP's announcement in September that it wants to create a new constitution -- an issue that has seen increasing public support.
Amid the growing public support, Lien proposed a quick three-step constitutional revision project to be completed in early 2005. On Saturday he invited Chen to take part in a debate on the issue.
However, the DPP insisted on following the three principles Chen proposed for creating a new constitution: that the DPP will not set any preconditions for constructing a constitution, the DPP proposes to use the referendum to decide on the content of the constitution, and the DPP insists the proposed constitution should be thoroughly discussed in public.
According to the DPP's schedule creating a new constitution, it would wait until 2006 before creating a new constitution and would enact it in 2008.
Lin contended that the DPP should provide a clear framework for the debate and clarify whether its creation of a constitution is to promote the creation of a "Republic of Taiwan."
Chang said that the DPP would stick to its own timetable and that the procedural work of writing a new constitution could be left open for debate.
Yesterday's meeting in the DPP's headquarters was attended by, among others, KMT policy committee convener and vice convener Tseng Yung-chuan (
The DPP's attendees, led by party secretary Chang, included Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan (
The DPP yesterday released a poll indicting that 44 percent of the public supported the constitutional issue to be raised in the election and that 62 percent of the poll respondents agreed that changing the constitution should not be conducted hastily and should incorporate sufficient public discussion.
The poll also showed that Chen and Lien's public support was still very close, with Chen's support rate at 34.7 percent and Lien's at 34.1 percent.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS