President Chen Shui-bian (
Hsieh, who met with Chen yesterday, told reporters after the DPP's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting that Chen had conveyed his views on the matter to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
If the Legislative Yuan wants to propose a third referendum proposal, it must do so before Feb. 22, or that would only leave Chen with the choice to launch a defensive referendum.
Article 17 of the Referendum Law (
A defensive referendum is a presidential prerogative and does not require the consent of the legislature but only ratification by the Executive Yuan.
The DPP has proposed holding a referendum on applying to join the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has suggested another referendum on "rejoining" the world body using the country's official name -- the Republic of China (ROC) -- or any other "practical" title that would uphold the nation's dignity.
Hsieh, who doubles as DPP chairman, has proposed that Chen call a meeting to discuss the matter with the chairmen or representatives of the DPP and the KMT to hammer out a resolution that both sides would find acceptable.
Hsieh said the president told him he was still waiting for the legislature's decision as Wang was still negotiating with the legislative caucuses.
In response, Hsieh said that although the DPP's position is to support its own referendum initiative, he would like to see the party's supporters back both propositions.
The bottom-line is both proposals should be successful, Hsieh said.
Hsieh has said earlier that if both proposals fail to be validated, it might give the global community the impression that Taiwanese are not interested in joining the world body.
As to the question of whether he would let Chen campaign for him, Hsieh said he welcomed Chen's support if it would not affect the president's job and administrative neutrality.
Hsieh said they had reached an agreement that the president would participate in a cross-country walk organized by Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (
Su, who doubles as the director of the DPP's Tainan campaign office, suggested that the president take part in the walk along Taiwan's western corridor to drum up support for the DPP's referendum proposal.
Hsieh had earlier said he did not think it was a good idea for Chen to attend the event as it might inconvenience the public.
Meanwhile, Wang yesterday confirmed that the DPP had made some propositions that were "more neutral" regarding a third UN referendum.
When approached by reporters in the legislature, Wang said the DPP had not finalized the content of its suggestion, but "so far [the wording] is much more neutral than the two [current UN] referendums."
Wang was asked for comment following his confirmation on Tuesday that the DPP had proposed the content of a third UN referendum when he met with the president on Monday.
Reports in the Chinese-language United Daily News and the China Times yesterday both quoted an unidentified source as saying that the DPP might have sought to include neutral wording such as "we are a sovereign state, not a province of the People's Republic of China and we have the right to join the UN" in the proposal.
Wang, however, declined to confirm on the content yesterday, only saying that such a "neutral" UN referendum should be launched by the legislature.
"Everyone agrees that the legislature can propose a [UN] plebiscite including content that is acceptable to both parties ... I think such a move would be even more neutral," he said.
Wang said he had communicated the DPP's suggestion to KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), but he did not know whether the KMT would accept it or not.
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