Republican Party legislative candidates yesterday promised to pursue clean politics if elected, signing a pledge to reject “red envelope” bribes and offers to rig government contracts, as well as to snub land speculation.
“From long-term care to housing to daycare, the government has failed to lay out policies for addressing the public’s needs and has instead handed over its responsibilities to corporations,” party spokesman Hsu Shih-shun (徐世勳) said. “What is even worse is there are often political figures behind the corporations, allowing them to act as arbiter to manipulate policies.”
The manipulation of government contracts has held back important infrastructure investments, and has caused the market to shrink and led to an outflow of capital by harming the nation’s investment environment, he said.
The party chose to raise the issue now to publicize its emphasis on clean politics before tomorrow’s legislative elections, Hsu said.
When asked why most of the party’s candidates failed to sign a Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) to publicize positions held by candidates in corporations and other organizations, Hsu said that the party voted to treat the CCW’s pledge with caution.
Only three Republican Party candidates have signed the CCW pledge, he said.
“There are numerous points in its wording that we do not agree with,” Hsu said, referring to CCW’s legislative reform proposals.
Several candidates also said that they had not been notified by the group.
“I feel that we as candidates have been bullied,” legislative candidate Rahic Amind said, adding that organizations often fail to contact candidates in a timely manner, often asking them to take last minute black-or-white stances on issues that they have no clear position.
He has not been contacted by CCW, Rahic Amind said.
When asked if the party had coordinated with the People First Party (PFP) in promulgating the pledge, Hsu stated that in previous conversations, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had expressed support for Republican Party principles.
Inviting him to sign the pledge should not be a problem, he said, adding that the party hoped that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party leaders would also sign it.
Republican Party Chairwoman Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) is paired with Soong on the PFP’s ticket for vice presidential candidate.
Hsu Hsin-ying said that if elected, the parties would focus on Soong’s policies, adding that each party had separate policies and basic demands. While the Republican Party is focused more on legal reform and labor issues, its policy stances did not conflict with the PFP’s, as the two parties complement each other, he said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS