The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday criticized a proposal by President Chen Shui-bian (
"The public wants to elect the township chiefs. The proposal to have official appointments goes against the voice of the people and oppresses grassroots democracy," KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said yesterday at KMT headquarters.
In a meeting with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regional government heads on Wednesday, Chen proposed putting the questions of whether or not township mayoral posts should be made appointed positions to a referendum.
Chen's proposal was as part of his push for three-in-one elections. The Cabinet has proposed combining three local government elections -- the county commissioner and mayoral elections, county councilor elections and township mayoral elections -- into one.
"Chen Shui-bian might have made this proposal because the KMT's success rate in the township chief elections has always been high. Chen is afraid to allow the KMT's influence at the grassroots level to continue," Chang said.
If Chen wants to propose another referendum, then he should first acknowledge that last year's referendum on arms purchases failed to pass and thus give up the government's NT$480 billion (US$15.25 billion) US arms-procurement special budget proposal, Chang said.
One of two referendums held last year on the same day as the presidential election was on the question of whether the government should beef up the military's anti-missile equipment in the face of the ballistic missile threat from China. The referendum did not pass because less than half of the electorate cast ballots.
While criticizing the arms budget as too expensive, the pan-blue camp says referendum's failure was indicative of the public's will.
"Chen should acknowledge that last year's referendum did not pass and give up the arms budget. Otherwise, he is again using a referendum to compromise an election," Chang 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:
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