At its special national congress held yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) passed a new Resolution on Ethnic Diversity and National Unity, committing the party to promoting ethnic harmony and consistent national identification. It also reached a consensus that direct election by the party membership should determine its chairman in the event that the president steps down from that post.
"The Resolution on Ethnic Diversity and National Unity not only demonstrates the DPP's determination and sincerity in promoting ethnic harmony, but also marks the country's future direction and goals," DPP chairman and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said in his speech yesterday.
Chen noted that in his May 20 inauguration speech, he said that current Taiwanese society is beset with serious challenges relating to ethnicity and national identification which people cannot ignore.
"On those two issues, the DPP has been seeking active and effective ways of reconciling tensions between ethnic groups," Chen said. "Ethnic diversity is the most precious asset that Taiwan possesses and we have to learn to respect differences."
"In fact, whether you identify with Taiwan or the Republic of China, [reconciling tensions] would achieve the same goal of defending the country's security and essential dignity," Chen said.
"We are willing to make a commitment that the DPP will understand and respect differences between ethnic groups with humility and tolerance, and work hard to find the common denominator in national identification that Hoklo, Hakka, mainlander and indigenous people can all accept."
According to the resolution, any DPP member who issues ethnically discriminatory remarks or takes any such actions will be condemned and disciplined.
Moreover, Chen said, the Cabinet will call a national meeting on ethnic and cultural development in October with the aim of defusing misunderstanding and boosting ethnic harmony through dialogue and consultation.
As the ruling party, Chen said, the DPP will be more humble and inclusive in dealing with ethnic problems.
The new resolution is the third that the party has enacted, after the "Resolution on Taiwan's Future" passed in 1999 and the "Resolution on Creating a New Vista for Taiwan's Economy" passed in 2001. The three resolutions have a status equivalent to the party's charter.
In addition to the new resolution, Chen said, the Executive Yuan will hold a conference on the development of ethnic cultures next month to begin carrying out the party's promises.
Meanwhile, the DPP also passed an amendment to the party's charter that regulates how the party chairman will be selected.
Party members will vote directly for a new chairman if the President is unable to serve in that post.
According the charter amendment, if the DPP is in power, the President will serve as the DPP's chairman.
The vice president, premier, presidential office secretary-general and legislative caucus leader will serve on the party's central standing committee.
If the DPP is not the ruling party, direct election by the party membership will determine its chairman.
Although several DPP members voiced their opposition to the change and asked Chen to stay in the chairman's office, the amendment eventually passed, with applause.
"The DPP is a party that values democracy, and it must embody this belief in all of its reforms," Chen said.
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