President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that he does not endorse any particular presidential hopeful despite mounting speculation that he supports Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
While the media has focused on whether Chen will make his preference known in an interview with a talk show tonight, Chen yesterday told the public to rest assured that he would not publicly endorse anyone.
"I only endorse Taiwan," he said. "I'm confident that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will nominate the presidential and vice presidential candidates who have the best chance of winning next year's presidential election and who will ensure the country's sovereignty, safety and the people's welfare."
Chen made the remarks while visiting a temple in Hsinchu City yesterday morning.
Last night, the DPP's four presidential aspirants used the opportunity presented by the party's third and final televised campaign debate to illustrate their individual approaches to Taiwan's sovereignty and future.
The two-hour debate was held in Kaohsiung, where Chen was in the audience.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) began the debate by defining the presidential election as an end to the nation's "democratic civil war" between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
He said that the election would be a "decisive battle" between those who favor unification with China and those who support maintenance of the "independent status quo."
"Although I also accept the current Constitution, the difference between [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate] Ma Ying-jeou (
This remark was not well received by Hsieh's rivals Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Citing the DPP's "Resolutions on Taiwan's Future," issued in 1999, Su said that he disagreed "completely" with Hsieh about the constitutional "one China" framework, because Beijing was likely to use it to blur the distinction between Taiwan and China.
Yu said Hsieh's claim that a "one China" framework existed in the Constitution violated the 1999 resolutions, and that Su's advocacy of the resolutions would mean maintaining the status quo.
Instead, Yu said, he would seek to change the nation's title from Republic of China to Taiwan.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), the fourth participant in the debate, urged party members to vote for a candidate who could "connect Taiwan to the world."
She said that she believed the government should help make the domestic investment environment more friendly to investors and invite foreign professionals to participate in local construction projects.
A primary vote will be held on Sunday, followed by a public opinion poll between next Wednesday and Friday.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods