Premier Frank Hsieh (
"The reason we are doing this is because [the Chinese government] deprived us of our right to make our own free choice about the country's future. Of course, we have to do something about this kind of unfriendly behavior," Hsieh said during the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
"Government officials are also Taiwanese citizens, so they definitely have the right to express themselves. I shall stand with the people and that is why I decided to join the event," he said.
The premier said that the rally on Saturday is aimed at raising awareness in the international community of how upset the Taiwanese people are about the Anti-Secession Law.
While Taiwan has been trying to solve cross-strait problems, China has still not abandoned the possibility of launching military strikes against Taiwan, he said.
Hsieh once again urged people taking part in the rally not to use the event to promote their own political agenda or as a platform for disseminating propaganda.
"This will be a cross-party activity. That means people from different political parties will all be welcomed. As a result, I hope we can all focus on the theme of the rally," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the premier, Cabinet Spokesman Chou Jung-tai (
"We will not force anybody to participate in the rally, divide participants into groups or hold a roll call. Consequently, you will not see a team in so-called `Cabinet uniforms' during the rally," Chou said.
He told reporters that the premier has forbidden his fellow officials from using government resources for the rally or attending it during office hours.
"Some Cabinet members asked the premier whether they should gather at the starting line of the rally. The premier told them that they should participate in the rally at any time and anywhere at their best convenience," Chou said.
"That means the Cabinet will not attend as a group. All officials are more than welcome to join the rally anywhere along the route," the spokesman said.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
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The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
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