The Executive Yuan yesterday called on Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The court is scheduled to make public its ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) to nullify the result of the March 20 presidential election at 4pm.
In addition to calling on Ma to shoulder his legal responsibility, Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) called on Ma, who doubles as a vice chairman of the KMT, to use his personal and political influence to persuade the party not to stage or support any illegal congregations or marches today.
"While society is gradually resuming stability, opposition parties should come out of the March 20 shadow and learn to trust and respect the judicial system as well as stop inciting political and ethnic confrontations," he said.
Citing the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), Chen said that it is illegal to stage protests outside certain government agencies, including courtrooms.
"While some pan-blue parties have threatened to mobilize their supporters to surround the Taiwan High Court when the court delivers its verdict [today], we'd like them to know that it's illegal to stage such protests and so far we have not yet received any application to do so," he said.
According to the law, congregations or marches are banned 300m around the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan, courtrooms, official residences of the president and vice president, as well as military compounds, embassies and foreign representative offices.
Meanwhile, during yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Ma criticized the Cabinet's Council for Economic Planning and Development (經建會) for failing to help Taipei and other metropolitan cities raise their international profile by providing information to international institutions such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) to add them in its global competitiveness report.
"While the WEF placed Taiwan No. 4 among 104 countries in its Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005, the council has no idea that Taipei City ranks 11th in competitiveness among the world's 53 countries," Chen quoted Ma as saying.
Ma proposed that the council take the initiative to provide the WEF with the city's information as well as that of other big cities such as Kaohsiung and Taichung so they would be added to the institution's ranking list.
In the city competitiveness rankings, Ma said that Singapore is first and Hong Kong is No. 2, while Shanghai is 25th and Beijing 35th.
Thomas Yeh (
Also See Story:
Murder Chen if he wins election suit, Lien says
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS