Prior to a summit that is to take place tomorrow between President Chen Shui-bian (
"The PCT's role is to serve as a critical support to any political party which shares the same principles and beliefs as the PCT. In the past, the church has supported the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) because we held the same beliefs, which were based on our common love for Taiwan, a country with its own sovereignty," said Reverend William Lo (
PHOTO:GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The declaration consists of three clauses: that the sovereignty of Taiwan is the prerequisite basis for partisan cooperation; that the pursuit of justice and peace is the common responsibility of the international community and that there must be the establishment of a new relationship between Taiwan and China.
In January, DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
Lee's suggestion caused deep concern within the church, as many key leaders of the church are long-term pro-independence activists.
"We want cooperation and not compromise ... the DPP should not forgo its Taiwan independence clause," said Reverend Kao Chun-min (
Huang Chao-hung (
"In previous elections, the DPP was calling for the writing of a new constitution and the changing of the country's official name. Because of these policies, supporters voted for the DPP. To abandon these ideals would be an act of betrayal to the voters," Huang said.
However, Kao said that he personally had not lost his faith in the president.
In January, Kao and Lo wrote a letter to the president to express the need to stick to one's principles despite the talk of party cooperation.
In a meeting held by the president with other advisers, Kao asked Chen if he had changed his mind about his pursuit of Taiwan's independence.
"In reply, the president told me that he had not changed his mind; the goals are the same, but the means to achieve the goals have taken a detour," Kao said.
Given their two-decades-long personal relationship, Kao said he could trust the president at his word, and if the situation called for it, he would have further communication with the president on the subject of upholding principles.
In response to the church's declaration, Premier Frank Hsieh (
However, Hsieh added, due to the misunderstanding that the US and Japan had about Taiwan's constitutional-reform and changing the country's official name, the government is taking a more cautious attitude towards these issues.
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