President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen announced three days ago that the government would change the names of government agencies, including overseas representative offices and embassies, and state-owned businesses to "Taiwan" within two years.
But the US Department of State has reacted cooly to the idea, saying it considered it a move to "unilaterally change Taiwan's status."
DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (
"As soon as the US understands that the name change does not violate Chen's inauguration pledges nor touch on the independence issue, the US will respect Taiwan's right to deal with our own domestic issue," Tsai said.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus, however, had doubts about Chen's intentions. It said he should form a consensus within the DPP before proceeding with the name-change plan.
TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (
Lo said Chen should smooth out the differences before moving forward.
"I hope that President Chen can unify opinion within the DPP and work to make a new constitution and correct the nation's title instead of just using this as an election strategy," Lo said.
"Otherwise voters should vote for the TSU and allow it to supervise the DPP administration to realize the promise of correcting the title," he said.
Lo said that the Republic of China's (ROC) seat in the UN was taken over by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1971, and what Beijing really cares about is defending the legitimacy of China as the only legal representative internationally.
For this reason, Taiwan had to strip the "emperor's new clothes," and push for "correcting the name of Taiwan" to clearly draw a line between Taiwan and China.
Lo said that if one dares not touch the issue of "correcting the name of the nation" because the US and China think it is a taboo issue, then Taiwan cannot be thought of as an independent, sovereign country.
The TSU also argued with the People First Party (PFP) legislative caucus over the name- change idea, with each demanding the other withdraw from Saturday's election.
The PFP caucus said that since the TSU wanted to terminate the ROC, the TSU should withdraw from the ROC's elections.
"President Chen has figured that the TSU is on the rise, so he has started to play around with the name rectification issue. This is only a campaign strategy to compete for votes with the TSU," said PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄).
"But if it is possible to change the names of overseas representative offices and embassies, why hasn't the DPP done so already?" Liu said.
PFP Legislator Hsu Yuan-kuo (許淵國) also demanded that TSU candidates withdraw from the poll since the party wanted to "elimi-nate" the ROC. He said that even if a TSU candidate won a seat, he or she would not be able to take the oath to "follow the Constitution faithfully and be loyal to the country."
TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (
"If you [PFP candidates] don't acknowledge President Chen's administration as legitimate, why are you running for seats under Chen's government?" he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai