Two more groups showed interest in taking part in the referendum debates yesterday after a coalition of political commentators said they would wiegh in on the matter two days ago.
The Chinese Speech and Debate Association (CSDA) and the Million Invalid Ballots Alliance both said that they wanted to take part in the debates.
"We are neither blue nor green. We want to participate in the debates because we want to reorient the debates' focus to a discussion of public policies," CSDA chairman Lo Chih-chiang (
Lo said that the opposition needs space for their opinion, and the association wanted to tell the public why they should vote "no" in the referendum.
"If the public thinks this referendum is illegal they should not support it. Even if it's legal, the public is not forced to support it," Lo said.
"If one is opposed to the expansion of the military, of course you can vote `no' to the first question of the referendum. Even if you support military expansion, such an expansion can come in many forms. It doesn't have to simply be the purchase of anti-missile weapons," Lo said.
He said that while he dis-agrees with the first question, he agrees with the second question that asks about negotiations with China.
Lo said that the association had gathered almost enough signatures to participate in the debate. The Central Election Commission (CEC) requires interested parties to gather 1,547 signatures before tomorrow to be granted participation in the debates.
Meanwhile, the Million Invalid Ballots Alliance was also seeking cooperation from other social groups to take part in the debate, but said the deadline was pressing.
"We support the democratic ideals represented by the referendum, but we oppose the abuse of the referendum in the election. Aside from politicians, social groups should also work together to speak out about the referendum," said Ho Yen-tang (
But Ho also said it would be difficult for the alliance to gather so many signatures in such a short time.
Independent Legislator Sisy Chen (
They said President Chen Shui-bian (
The Cabinet is mulling a change to the line-up for the planned 10 referendum debates after Jaw and Chen launched a signature drive on Tuesday to petition for their playing the "opposition" side in the debates.
Possible candidates for the Cabinet line-up might include Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).
Lin told the press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting that the possible change of the debates' line-up had a lot to do with the worries expressed by some of the five experts assigned by Premier Yu Shyi-kun to take part in the debates.
"Some of them said that they're worried the debates might end up being mudslinging or vitriolic political tirades," Lin said. "Due to the changing situation, it is normal and natural to consider changing the debates' line-up ... We'll discuss this matter with the CEC."
Lin said that the Cabinet sent the list of debaters to the CEC on Monday in accordance with the debate rules set by the CEC.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
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