Stabilizing the political situation, boosting the economy, safeguarding democracy and upholding Taiwan's sovereignty are the four priorities of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
"On the political front, downsizing the legislature and reforming the Constitution will be the group's primary promises in the upcoming elections," party Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) has said.
Given that voters have become disillusioned with the bitter acrimony that characterizes the legislature, Huang said the party advocates halving the seats in the Legislative Yuan from 225 to 100.
PHOTO: HSIN YUEH-HUNG and LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
On reforming the Constitution, the group supports replacing the current semi-presidential, five-branch system with a stronger three-branch presidential system.
Because people have been able to elect the president directly since 1996 and the president's nomination for premier no longer needs the approval of the legislature, Taiwan has adopted a presidential system, Huang said.
"Rewriting the constitution to create a three-branch presidential system will put to rest the ferocious debate between politicians and scholars about what is the true spirit of Taiwan's Constitution."
To prevent political struggles from hindering economic development, the TSU advocates prioritizing legislative bills related directly to people's lives.
On trade, the group supports reforming government policy on cross-strait trade, particularly the "no haste, be patient" policy on China-bound investment.
On Nov. 7, the government replaced the "no haste" policy introduced by former president Lee Teng-hui
Lee has said the new measure will work well, but warned that the government should stress the "effective management" part of its new policy to protect Taiwan's national and economic security as well as the personal safety of Taiwan's businessmen.
An issue close to the heart of the TSU is Taiwan's sovereignty. The party has warned that the nation should not fall into the "one China" trap created by Beijing. It suggests Taiwan engage the international community as much as possible and try to improve cross-strait relations through peaceful measures.
"The party aims to uphold the people's welfare and national security by seeking the condition that if China does not use force against Taiwan, Taiwan will not declare independence," Huang said. According to the TSU party platform, there is no controversy concerning whether Taiwan should claim independence. The issue is "whether Taiwanese will agree to be ruled by China."
The party also rejects China's proposal to govern Taiwan following the "one country, two systems" model used for Hong Kong.
The TSU supports Lee's initiatives, who, during his 12 years in power, handed control of the military to the government. Under KMT, rule the government and the KMT were almost indistinguishable, and they jointly ran the military.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS