The Appendectomy Project yesterday accused the government of excluding civic groups from participating in the reform of the Civil Servant Elections and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
The Ministry of the Interior failed to invite several activist groups to speak at a public hearing scheduled for today, including groups that played a central role in past campaigns to recall legislators, a group spokesman said.
Today’s hearing is scheduled to discuss proposals, such as lowering the voter turnout threshold for recall referendums and lifting a ban on campaigning during recalls.
After receiving complaints last week, the ministry said that group members are welcome to attend the public hearing, provided that they speak only after the other participants finish.
Following a failed campaign to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) that ended in February, the Appendectomy Project has made the reform of recall legislation its priority.
Appendectomy Project spokesman Lin Zu-yi (林祖儀), also known as “Mr Lin from Taipei (台北林先生),” questioned the attendance of representatives from the major political parties, as recall reform presents a conflict of interest for sitting legislators.
The Constitution 133 Alliance, which spearheaded a failed campaign to recall KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) in 2013, agreed.
Alliance founder Neil Peng (馮光遠), who is running for legislator on the New Power Party ticket, said it was “unimaginable” that the main organizers of two high-profile campaigns were not invited to the public hearing.
Last week, the ministry said it intended to invite four civic groups to the hearing: Taiwan March, People Rule Foundation, the Appendectomy Project and the Constitution 133 Alliance.
The ministry said that the latter two groups had been omitted because they were not officially registered, adding that the government was unable to find contact information for unregistered groups.
Peng accused the ministry of neglecting its duties, saying that failure to find contact information is unacceptable.
“Situations like this lead us to question how much our public sector is slacking off. In light of the recent debacle concerned with military discipline, I must give Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) a demerit,” Peng said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,