Former president Lee Teng-hui (
"The parliamentary system works best, however, only if the electoral system is altered," Lee said.
As next year's legislative elections will be held under a "single-member" district system, Lee said that the newly elected legislators would most likely care more about regional issues than national ones. This must change, he said.
Lee made the remarks in response to questions from Jou Yi-cheng (
`moderate voices'
Lee, who serves as the spiritual leader of the TSU, has been urging the public to support a "third force," or moderate voices, in next year's legislative and presidential elections, to give a voice to the disadvantaged and the middle class.
Yesterday marked the first meeting between Lee and members of the "third force." The meeting came after the Third Society Party sent an open letter to Lee.
During the three-hour talks, Lee expressed his appreciation for the organization's enthusiasm and encouraged them to persist despite their financial difficulties and limited connections.
Jou said next year is a good time to push for constitutional reform as the new legislature will have been elected. He asked Lee to lead the push for reform to end bipartisan politics dominated by the Democratic Progressive Party and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
alliance
Chou also proposed joining with all "third force" parties after the elections to form a constitutional amendment alliance.
Lee, however, did not give a direct response to the proposals.
The talks did not touch on a merger or cooperation in the legislative elections. The Third Society Party said that they will nominate their own legislative candidates and run their own campaign.
As the nation will elect new leaders next year, Lee said the next leaders must be determined and sharp, especially in dealing with Chinese aggression.
Apart from China, Lee emphasized the importance of national identity and defense capability. Cross-strait relations must not be rushed, he said, adding that the government must take into account China's social changes when setting cross-strait policy.
While business tycoon Wang Yung-ching (
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
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
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