A number of academics yesterday called on the government not to block people’s wish to express their opinions through a referendum on the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The academics made the call in Taipei while presenting a new book titled Review of Significant International Referendum Cases.
National Chengchi University history professor Chen Wen-hsien (陳文賢), the main editor of the book, said the book gathered more than 10 articles reviewing significant referendum cases that had been held around the world, all of which he said highlighted the referendum as an important process in democracies.
Referendums allow members of the public to voice their opinions directly, gathering public consensus, he said, adding that a referendum’s result functions as an announcement a country makes to the international community.
As an example, Chen said Finland’s Constitution and laws do not require that the country seek approval by referendum before joining international organizations. Still, Finland in 1994 held a national referendum on whether to join of the EU because its government saw the move concerned Finland’s future, and the public had the right to decide their future.
Citing another example, Chen said Switzerland held two referendums, in 1986 and 2003, to decide whether to join the UN. The proposal was rejected in the first, but it received 54.6 percent approval and passed the second time.
At the same occasion yesterday, Taiwan New Century Foundation chairman Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志) said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the public should learn from the book about referendum practices in democracies.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) on April 23 announced it had completed the first phase of a referendum procedure that would ask voters whether they supported an ECFA with China.
Of the nearly 200,000 signatures the party has already collected, 110,000 petition forms were delivered to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for review.
The Referendum Act (公民投票法) stipulates that for the first phase of a referendum drive, organizers must collect information from at least 0.5 percent of eligible voters, meaning that of the 110,000 forms, 86,000 would have to be valid to initiate a referendum.
Officials from the CEC said that they have scheduled a committee meeting for Tuesday to review the referendum petition, four days before it must either halt the referendum pending additional signatures or send it to the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee for further examination.
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) yesterday called on the government “not to use a small committee to block most people’s wish to have their voices heard through the holding of a referendum.”
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all