The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to abandon the policy of maintaining the “status quo” and begin promoting the nation’s status under the name “Taiwan” after the loss of diplomatic ally El Salvador.
The party condemned China for its “malicious attempt” to suppress Taiwan and blamed it for “undermining the regional security and peace of East Asia” by manipulating other nations into isolating Taiwan.
By carrying out military drills around Taiwan, preventing the nation from holding the East Asian Youth Games and luring El Salvador to switch allegiance, China has proved that “there will be no end to its oppression and that no friendly gestures or promises from Beijing can be counted on,” it said in a statement.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration should abandon its foreign policy of maintaining the “status quo” and begin promoting the nation as “Taiwan” to differentiate itself from China, it said.
Moreover, it should work to normalize Taiwan as a nation by reforming the Constitution and supporting referendums to rename the nation, it said.
The NPP called on other parties to join it in promoting legislation to “normalize the nation,” including amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which would enable people to vote on issues, such as the national territory, national flag and national name.
“We believe the only way to safeguard our democracy and freedom, as well as Taiwan’s dignity, is to normalize the nation by rectifying our name to Taiwan and turning cross-strait relations into international relations through the power of the people,” it said.
Taiwanese do not fear and will not succumb to oppression, but rather will grow stronger in their convictions to prove Taiwan’s independence, it said.
“China’s oppressive tactics and continued attempts to bribe Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have infuriated all of us,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said in a Facebook post.
Tsai must readjust her policy of maintaining the “status quo” because the “status quo” has already been destroyed by China, he said.
“There is no need and makes no sense to continue to abide by this self-restricting policy,” he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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