Following President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen raised eyebrows on Sunday night when he said during a campaign rally in Shulin (樹林), Taipei County, that he was considering four options -- declaring martial law, annulling the results of elections in pan-blue-controlled areas, replacing local election commission heads, or asking the Central Election Commission (CEC) to postpone the elections.
The CEC on Nov. 16 decided to use a one-step voting procedure in which voters will receive two ballots for the legislative elections and two referendum ballots at the same time and cast them into four different boxes.
PHOTO: CNA
However, 18 pan-blue local government chiefs insist on following a two-step voting process, whereby voters first cast their legislative election ballots before receiving their referendum ballots.
Chen reiterated yesterday that he would not impose martial law during his presidency. He said the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government did not do so after the devastating earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, nor did he do so at the height of a campaign to oust him last year.
Urging the public to follow the CEC's decision, Chen said he believed the CEC would negotiate with the 18 counties and cities over the issue and that it would handle the matter in the most appropriate manner.
He criticized the opposition's attempt to boycott the one-step voting system as a move aimed at protecting the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "stolen assets" and opposing the government campaign to join the UN under the name Taiwan.
"Their purpose is to let Taiwan become part of China and prevent Taiwan from becoming an independent state," he said. "Voting is our constitutional right. The administration will do its best to protect this right and maintain order at polling stations."
A report in the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday implied that TV political commentator Chen Li-hung (陳立宏) and political talk show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) were the instigators.
Chen Li-hung did not deny the speculation yesterday.
He told a TV program on SET-TV that the comments he made on a TV talk show dealt only with the voting dispute and were not targeted at any particular individual or party.
But Chen Li-hung dismissed talk that he advised the president on the matter because he, as well as the other guests and the host of the program, had not met or talked with Chen recently.
Nor were they planning to do so, he said.
Chen Li-hung also criticized the president for making such rash statements and misleading the public into thinking they were the troublemakers.
As the head of state, Chen is in no position to say that he is considering invalidating the election results, he said.
"Is that what a responsible politician should do?" he asked. "While he should be spending time and effort trying to figure out a way to deal with the problem, all he does is carry on stumping for DPP candidates."
Meanwhile, Legislator David Huang (黃適卓), a former member of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, yesterday revealed that his father, former TSU chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), had made the recommendation that the CEC replace local election commission heads and delay the elections if necessary.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan