Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweights yesterday responded to accusations from Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) that the party is using a student movement against planned adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines as a tool of political manipulation.
In the wake of reports that the DPP provided financial assistance to high-school students nationwide who are protesting against the Ministry of Education’s planned adjustments to social studies guidelines, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presumptive presidential candidate Hung accused the DPP of politically manipulating the movement and the students on Facebook, urging DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to stop.
However, former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) said that the DPP has done nothing wrong in helping the student movement.
“The DPP is a political party. We not only strive to present policies to benefit the nation and to win elections, when civic groups apply for support with campaigns, we provide help to show our concern. We have done this before,” Yu said. “The DPP did not do anything wrong by doing so; the point is that the DPP did not intervene in the students’ decisionmaking mechanism.”
Hsieh said that on the other hand it is obvious that Hung is attempting to politicize the movement.
“Hung made the remarks because she wanted to politicize the student movement, so that people might think it is less justified,” Hsieh said. “Her attempt is very obvious.”
DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) echoed Yu’s opinion.
“The DPP has long been concerned about all different progressive and reform-minded social movements and has always been supportive of non-governmental organizations and social movements,” Cheng said. “Although we are supportive, we do not intervene — and we would love to provide help, however possible.”
Based on that principle, “the DPP would absolutely assist these high-school students, who are out on the streets defending their rights to education,” Cheng said.
During the Sunflower movement last year, the DPP provided water, food and other necessities, the spokesperson added.
“We help, but we do not intervene — and we do not try to harvest political influence,” Cheng said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS