The Presidential Office yesterday said it hoped the international community would respect the country's judicial procedures and trust its democratic foundations, for which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and thousands of people had fought for decades.
"We hope the international community can understand that the requests made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"Some foreign media said that Taiwan's government rejected the pan-blue camp's requests. That is not correct. The government cannot violate the constitutional mechanism, which will just hurt the country's legal system," Wu said.
Wu said that the opposition alliance had a right to launch legal proceedings against the result of the presidential election, but added that the pan-blue camp's leaders should stop its supporters' irrational actions.
"Taiwan's democratic achievements have been credited by the international community, and the international media have praised past elections for being fair and just," Wu said.
"The approach the pan-blue camp is taking right now shows a lack of confidence in Taiwan's judiciary and is reminiscent of how it manipulated the legal system under the previous KMT government," he said.
The pan-blue camp's strategy of neither accepting the election result nor trusting the judicial processes has harmed the country's democratic reputation, Wu said.
"For the time being we must tolerate any provocative actions and just keep calm to prevent any possible conflict between our supporters and the protesters from the pan-blue camp," Wu said.
He also reminded the international community that the pan-blue camp had failed to present any concrete evidence for its accusation of vote-rigging and said that Lien might not be able to end the protests rationally.
"It is easy to call on people to protest in the streets, but it is difficult to call off the demonstrations peacefully," Wu said.
According to an anonymous DPP source, top aides to the president called an emergency meeting after Lien announced that he did not accept the election result and was hoping to have it annulled.
"We realized that this was an unhappy victory, because there would be an emotional reaction from the losers," the aide said yesterday.
"Three steps are necessary to deal with the challenge: First, to prevent any form of conflict; Second, to resolve the event in accordance with judicial processes, which may take months, and finally, President Chen has to personally heal the divisions between ethnic communities," the aide said.
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
RSS