Secretary General to the president Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) yesterday said that the content of President Shui-bian's (陳水扁) defensive referendum will not just be a simple "appeal" to protest China's military threats against Taiwan, but will propose "concrete" suggestions to allow the government making policy in the future.
"The United States government said that we should not make great efforts to just implement a meaningless referendum," Chiou said yesterday.
"Therefore, we must find a solution to make the referendum concrete and significant," he said.
Chiou invited local media to a year-end tea party at the Presidential Office, where he talked about US-Taiwan relationships that were disturbed by Chen's defensive referendum plan.
He said that communication between Taiwan and the US is making progress and "now the US government's concern is a `whole referendum package,' which includes the defensive referendum on March 20 and the new Constitution movement in 2006."
"The present mission for President Chen's administration is to assure the US government that neither the March 20 defensive referendum nor the future new Constitution will hurt the US' interests," he said.
He said that what the US opposes is not the referendum itself but any movement to change Taiwan's status quo.
"If the US and the entire international community understand that Taiwan must create a new Constitution because over 120 articles -- two thirds of the Constitution -- have to be amended, then they may accept that President Chen does not aim to touch on Taiwan's independence," he said.
However, if more than half the Taiwanese people ask to change Taiwan's name, territory and flag while legislating the new Constitution, Chen will follow the trend and violate his "five noes" promise, Chiou said.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,