Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) policy guidelines passed during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term as party chairman have been removed from the its Web site after a redesign.
The KMT recently had its official Web site overhauled, with the most attention-grabbing alternation being changes to the party platform section — the political guidelines followed by the party.
The policy guidelines passed by the 19th party congress in 2013, when Ma was chairman, have been replaced with a version passed by the 18th party congress, which took place in 2009. The shift to an older version of the party’s platform has set off speculation.
The largest difference between the two versions of the party’s platform lies in its energy policy. Due to incumbent KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) goals of denuclearization and a “nuclear-free homeland,” many argue that the Ma administration’s approaches of stable nuclear reduction, and low-carbon and sustainable development, as stated in the 19th party congress, are no longer acceptable to the party under Chu’s leadership.
Critics say that the KMT and Ma’s administration have taken diverging paths, and that the change could be preparation for the forthcoming presidential election campaign, which will likely touch on the issue of nuclear energy.
The KMT revises its party platform every four years, and usually has a policy guideline research team make a first draft for subsequent revisions by party representatives and special committees. The KMT Central Standing Committee and party congress then need to approve the revised draft, which becomes the party’s policy guidelines for the next four years.
The KMT charter stipulates that the subsequent Central Standing Committee should pursue policy in line with its party congress. For example, the 19th Central Standing Committee should be following the resolutions of the 19th party congress. However, the current party platform presented on the Web site is dated Oct. 17, 2009, which means the current Central Standing Committee is no longer following guidelines from its partner party congress.
The fourth item in the platform approved by the 19th congress relates to national land use planning and creating a sustainable environment, saying that the party is to “push for a diverse energy policy, develop renewable energy sources, ensure safe nuclear power plant operation, steadily reduce nuclear power and move toward a low-carbon and sustainable homeland.”
Some party members have speculated that mention of nuclear power, even with a stated goal of reducing its contribution to the nation’s energy supply, runs contrary to Chu’s promise of creating a nuclear-free Taiwan, and resulted in the adoption of the previous set of policy guidelines, which only mentions the creation of a clean-energy economy and low-carbon initiatives.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS