The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continued to solicit support from all sectors of society to take part in a nationwide demonstration set for March 26 to vehemently oppose Beijing's proposed anti-secession law, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
Su called for people of all ages and walks of life to take part in the rally to say "no" to the anti-secession law targeting Taiwan and assert the nation's democratic will. The anti-secession law is expected to be enacted by the Chinese National People's Congress at its ongoing annual session which closes Monday.
Su visited several private groups yesterday to try to broaden the support base for the DPP-initiated nationwide rally, in which some 500,000 people, including and former President Lee Teng-hui (
Among the business executives that Su visited yesterday was Taiwan Federation of Industry Chairman Lee Cheng-chia (李成家), who said that members of his federation will throw their support behind the DPP in its efforts to lead people to oppose the law, which allows "non-peaceful means" to be used should Taiwan move toward permanent or formal independence.
Meanwhile, Lai Ching-teh (
Lai said it hopes that opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Responding to such appeals, KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (
Lai further said that the DPP legislative caucus will also initiate a resolution soon to ask all party leaders to take part in a leadership summit to jointly craft countermeasures against the enactment of the anti-secession law.
The March 26 nationwide demonstration will be the largest-ever that the Taiwan people hold to say "no" to China, Lai added.
DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
Lee pointed out that the tensions in cross-strait relations lie in Beijing's refusal to recognize Taiwan's sovereignty, its threat of force and deployment of missiles which threaten the peace and security of the Taiwan Strait and its harsh methods used to squeeze Taiwan.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
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