President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday promised to make every effort to unify all ethnic groups, strengthen belief in Taiwan and persist in reform after his successful re-election bid.
"[Vice President] Annette Lu (
PHOTO: LUO CHENG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"We will make every effort to unify all ethic groups, to strengthen belief in Taiwan and to persist in reform. We will strive to make Taiwan a better place and enable our people to live better lives," Chen said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Addressing a jubilant crowd in front of Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) national campaign headquarters, Chen appealed to all of supporters not to demonstrate any arrogance and to refrain from any irrational or undemocratic behavior.
"The election is over and even though there are people who have different ideologies and beliefs, from now on we must all embrace each other, creating a harmonious and unified new Taiwan through our love and tolerance," Chen said. "The whole world is watching Taiwan's democracy, and the 23 million people of Taiwan will get a thumbs up from the world."
Party officials appeared concerned that emotions were running high and kept a low-key attitude in celebrating.
Winning a close election race against his -- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"I want to thank the KMT and PFP parties for their criticism and suggestions during this campaign period. Over the next four years, I will continue to listen to different views and accept different suggestions.
Chen also appealed to Beijing leaders to respect the election results and to work toward mutual benefits across the Strait.
"We sincerely ask the Beijing authorities across the Strait to view the election result from a positive perspective and to accept the democratic decision of the Taiwanese people.
"Through mutual understanding, sincerity and goodwill, and with great wisdom and broad views, the leaders on both sides should jointly initiate new opportunities for peace, stability and mutual benefit," Chen said.
Meanwhile, Chen affirmed the democratic value of the referendum but said there was room for improvement.
"The people of Taiwan have once again written a new page in our history and taken a great step forward in democracy. Because it is the first time, some of our people have not fully understood the democratic value and implementation of this referendum. As such there is much room for future improvement," Chen said.
Although the referendum didn't pass, Chen once again appealed to China to understand the Taiwanese people's will in wanting democracy and peace and the removal of missiles deployed against Taiwan.
"We ask them to remove the missiles deployed against Taiwan, give up their military threat and instead let us together open the door to peaceful and stable cross-strait dialogue and negotiations," the president said.
In response to Lien and Soong's decision to file a lawsuit to nullify the election results, DPP Secretary General Chang Chun-hsiung (
"We recognize Lien and Soong's right to file a lawsuit. After all, they are showing their disapproval of the election results within the legal system. But we condemn any provocations," Chang said.
As for whether Lien and Soong have sent their regards to Chen on his re-election, DPP campaign manager Su Tseng-chang (
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
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
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