Print

Mail

wiki links

Taiwan Quick Take

■ Politics
Referendum requests mulled
Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) yesterday told lawmakers in the Home and Nations committee that the commission was currently processing two applications to hold politically charged referendums, but refused to say when the referendums would be held amid speculation by pan-blue lawmakers that they would coincide with the presidential election. A commission report stated that one referendum application had been initiated by Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun on Sept. 4 to confiscate the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) ill-gotten assets and return them to the public. A month later, former finance minister and KMT heavyweight Wang Chien-shien initiated another application to hold a referendum on whether to hold government leaders accountable for incompetence.

■ Politics
Post office budget frozen
This year's budget for Taiwan Post Co (臺灣郵政), previously Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政), was frozen during a preliminary review in the legislature yesterday. The state-run post office was renamed as part of recent de-sinicization efforts by the Democratic Progressive Party government when Chunghwa Post's board of directors passed a resolution on Feb. 9. However, pan-blue lawmakers motioned in the legislature's Budgets and Final Accounts Committee that the company should not be allowed to use a budget that was passed under its old name. Four amendments required to complete the post office's name change have not yet cleared the legislature. Yesterday's motion passed as a result of the pan-blue camp's majority on the committee and the pan-green lawmakers left the committee meeting in protest. Acting chairman of Taiwan Post Ho Nuan-hsuen (何煖軒) said he would negotiate with pan-blue lawmakers on the matter, adding that it would directly influence the company's 25,000 employees.

■ Politics
PFP's Liu stands in Keelung
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) yesterday registered with the Keelung City election commission to take part in an May 12 by-election for mayor. Keelung City Council Speaker Chang Tong-rong (張通榮) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) registered last week. Liu said that he had to register to assure his supporters that he would not pull out of the race, even though the PFP and the KMT have agreed to use public opinion polls to jointly field a common candidate in the race. However, Liu did not write down his party affiliation on the registration form in a bid to leave room to forge a deal between the PFP and the KMT to avoid a pan-blue split in the by-election. The election will select a successor to former mayor Hsu Tsai-li (許財利), who died last month.

■ Environment
Remote sensing forum starts
A five-day academic forum on remote sensing opened yesterday at National Central University in Chungli, Taoyuan County, to discuss the environment in Taiwan, other Asian countries and the world, sources from the university's Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research said. Attended by 150 researchers who will present some 100 research papers, the forum will focus on the areas of atmospheric, hydrologic, geological and oceanological studies, as well as the processing of remote sensing data.

This story has been viewed 1619 times.