The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) passed a resolution in its weekly Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday declaring its full support for President Chen Shui-bian's (
Abolishing the council and the guidelines contributed to the nation's effort to prevent the status quo from slanting toward unification and to resist China's attempt to "gradually annex" Taiwan, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said.
"Since China passed its `Anti-Secession' Law in 2005, it has built up a cooperative platform with ... the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] to attack Taiwan's democracy," Yu said. "Then KMT chairman [Lien Chan (
Yu added that this had led the "status quo" to tend toward unification and that Taiwanese were losing the freedom to choose their own future.
The abolition of the NUC would be an inevitable outcome of the nation's democratization, he added.
Yu said that the NUC and the guidelines, which were passed by the KMT's Central Standing Committee in 1990 as part of a long-term strategy for eventual unification with China, lack legitimacy and violate the spirit of self-determination.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"The president should think twice and avoid damaging Taiwan-US relations," Ma said yesterday. "He should take full responsibility for the move, instead of shifting the blame onto me."
Ma reminded reporters of Chen's pledges during his inauguration speeches in 2000 and 2004 in which the president promised that during his term, abolishing the unification council or guidelines would "not be an issue."
"Now he suddenly says the guidelines are ridiculous, so of course the US will be surprised ... I hope that he keeps his promises and stops shifting the blame onto others," he added.
Chen's supporters have stressed that the pledges were made on the condition that China had no intention to use military force against Taiwan -- and that China's continued missile buildup since 2000 demonstrated such intent.
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
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
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
RSS