Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday delivered a tirade against Japan and the US, calling on the public to get behind the "defensive referendum" proposed by President Chen Shui-bian (
"While the US government doesn't have the guts to stand up to China, we Taiwanese people must stick together and do it for ourselves," DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (湯火聖) said. "We want to tell the US, Japan and the rest of the world that we want the defensive referendum and we want it for the sake of self-defense, nothing else."
Tang, speaking at a press conference yesterday morning, also upbraided the US for its unilateralism.
"A volley of opposition recently expressed by US officials, including US President George W. Bush and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, has highlighted one thing: that is, the US government cares about nothing but its own national interest. It couldn't care less about us," Tang said.
Since the US has already benefited from Taiwan politically, commercially and militarily, Tang said, Taiwan's national interest means little to the US.
"Why bother to care so much about the opinions of such a selfish friend?" Tang said.
Likening the battle over the referendum to the War of Independence, another DPP lawmaker, Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), questioned the US government's commitment to democracy.
"I'm very curious to know why the American people can be their own lord and master but we can't," Su said.
While the nation was thrilled about the passage of the Referendum Law (
"Is this the democratic value they claim to take pride in and embrace?" Su asked.
DPP Legislator Kuo Jung-chung (
"They thought the defensive referendum was bound to fail because it lacks the support of such superpowers as Japan and the US. What they overlook here, however, is the power of the people," Kuo said.
"We want to tell the world this time around that we refuse to be a watch dog obsequiously wagging its tail before its master," Kuo said.
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
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS