Amid nationwide demonstrations in response to the election, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday told party members not to provoke the pan-blue camp's supporters, or else they would face disciplinary measures.
High-ranking party officials convened an emergency meeting yesterday morning in response to the protests led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) alliance.
"We ask all our members nationwide to refrain from provocations or impolite language of any kind, or else they will face serious punishment in accordance with the party's disciplinary regulations," DPP Secretary General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang urged KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining social order and not to further create any agitation which would harm a democratic society.
"The Central Election Commission has already announced that President Chen Shui-bian (
Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), vice director general of the DPP campaign, said yesterday that the appropriate laws should be revised to enable an automatic recount mechanism if the difference between election results is less than 1 percent.
"I will propose that the related election laws be amended so that the election authority would have to reseal the ballot boxes immediately and recount the votes if the difference is less than 1 percent," Hsieh said.
Such a system would eliminate the causes of unnecessary protests, Hsieh said.
In response to pan-blue supporters' demand that the government recount the votes immediately, Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said that the recount should adhere to legal principles and that the pan-blue alliance's use of a populist appeal to demand swift action from the legal authority was unacceptable.
He urged the pan-blue camp to respect the legal process and put an end to the irrational protests, which could damage Taiwan's international image.
Chiou yesterday dismissed the rumors that Douglas Paal, the director of the American Institute (AIT) in Taiwan, has tried to meet with the leaders of both political camps for mediation. Chou said Paal had arranged to meet both candidates before the election even took place.
"It's a routine matter for the AIT director to meet with presidential candidates after the election. It has nothing to do with mediation to resolve the election dispute," Chiou said.
DPP campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) yesterday dis-missed Lien's claim that the election had been unfair and that the assassination attempt on Chen had jeopardized the fairness of the election. He said the blue camp just wanted to change their election defeat around.
"They made no protest before the election about the president being shot, but after they lost the election they said it made the election unfair," Wu said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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