Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who was sworn in yesterday, said that she was concerned that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) talked a lot about closer cross-strait relations in his inaugural speech on Tuesday, but made no mention of Taiwan's sovereignty.
“In his entire inaugural speech, Ma didn’t say Taiwan or the Republic of China is a sovereign state,” Tsai said at her inauguration at DPP headquarters in Taipei yesterday morning.
“He didn’t even mention that Taiwan’s future should be decided by all Taiwanese people — something he repeatedly said during his presidential campaign,” Tsai said.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“It is worrying that the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] seems to be overlooking the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty,” she said.
Tsai won the chairmanship election on Sunday with more than 73,000 votes — making her not only the DPP’s first chairwoman but the highest vote-getter in the party’s history.
Tsai said the DPP would strive to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty while maintaining the nation’s cultural and ethnic diversity.
“Ma’s inaugural speech made me believe that the DPP will be carrying a heavy burden,” the chairwoman said.
“We must stand united with other political parties that share our beliefs to defend Taiwan’s interests, review the party’s accomplishments and mistakes, further connect ourselves to society, work to deepen Taiwan-oriented values and defend social justice in the globalized world,” Tsai said. “Then the DPP will rise again.”
Her predecessor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) agreed with Tsai and called on all party members to stand behind her.
Tsai also said that the DPP would develop an economic plan different from that of the KMT.
“As an opposition party with governing experience, the DPP must come up with a set of economic strategies to overcome the challenges brought about by globalization,” she said.
“The DPP’s economic policy will put equal weight on economic growth, social justice and ecological conservation,” she said.
“We must provide the people with an enjoyable life, high-quality education and a clean environment — that’s how the DPP will differ from the KMT,” she said.
Tsai got straight down to work yesterday afternoon by presiding over the weekly Central Standing Committee meeting. She asked the committee members to start brainstorming on campaign strategies for next year’s county commissioner and mayoral elections.
“We also touched on improving the party’s ability to deal with policy issues, talked about setting up a think tank and discussed some legislative bills,” she told a press conference after the meeting.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS