President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday dismissed speculation that they were at odds over cross-strait economic policies.
While Hsieh's Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) election rival Ma Ying-jeou (
"Improving the economy and safeguarding national identity can go hand in hand," Chen said. "It's like what Hsieh said: He will decide the campaign strategy, and when it comes to national policy, I am the boss."
Chen made the remarks after attending an exhibition at the World Trade Center yesterday morning.
Separately, Hsieh said yesterday that he could not tell Chen what to do, since the latter is president, but added that he would be able to assert his policies as president if elected.
"President Chen is trying very hard to do many things, but as the first elected Taiwanese president, he is under a lot of pressure," he said. "Although there are things that he hasn't done -- or hasn't done quite right -- I'll do them and this is the point of electing a new president. I believe he will accept my proposals."
Hsieh made the remarks in response to a question from an American Chamber of Commerce member during a luncheon yesterday. Hsieh was asked whether he would push ahead with the policies he has proposed if elected, considering Chen's influence in the DPP.
Another member with the Chamber said he was disappointed by both the DPP and KMT for doing little over the past eight years.
In response, Hsieh said that bipartisanship was a major problem in Taiwan. He said he would strive to secure a majority in the legislature or form a coalition government to attain policy goals.
While Taiwan has never seen a coalition government before, Hsieh said it was a possibility next year because it was possible that neither the DPP nor KMT would secure a legislative majority.
Hsieh emphasized that his economic policy differs from Ma because he prioritizes Taiwan's sovereignty.
"National sovereignty and the status quo are more important than anything else," he said.
"My bottom line is that I will not open the local market at the expense of Taiwan's sovereignty and make the country into a local government of China," Hsieh said.
Regarding whether investment from China should be regulated, Hsieh said industries related to national defense, agriculture and people's livelihoods should be protected.
The key issue is not whether to manage investment, but how to manage it, Hsieh said.
"Our policy should be guided by what's best for Taiwan," he 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:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching