DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday said that a demonstration of farmers and fishermen scheduled for Nov. 23 is actually a KMT and PFP conspiracy to boycott financial reforms.
"We have noticed that the KMT mobilized all its members in the farmers' and fishermen's associations to carry rotten food such as eggs and fish at the demonstration," Chang said yesterday at DPP headquarters.
Both KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Chang fought back yesterday, saying the opposition boycott will not only undermine the government's efforts to clean up the associations' non-performing loan problems, but may also cause the collapse of the nation's financial system.
"Once the government accomplishes the reorganization of farmers' and fishermen's associations, the Cabinet will keep its promise to provide NT$3.5 billion per year to help revive the system starting next year," Chang said.
Chang stressed that the Legislative Yuan had reached a consensus on June 14 on the need for a fundamental reform of the financial system, adding that the Cabinet should make rebuilding these troubled institutions a priority.
"The Cabinet is now executing the Legislative Yuan's resolution, which is also endorsed by those opposition parties," Chang said. "I have no idea why opposition leaders have now planned and mobilized such a large-scale demonstration to block the policy."
The credit departments of farmers' and fishermen's associations were established in 1960s and their credit cooperative departments were intended to improve the country's agricultural development.
However, over the past few years, complaints from academics and the DPP have grown about the associations serving as a source of "black gold" politics.
The DPP went as far as to say the associations virtually serve as a KMT mobilization mechanism during election campaigns and that the associations are under the control of local political factions and criminal organizations.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has declared on several occasions since taking power in May 2000 that he would reform the associations with an aim to clear up the overdue-loan problem.
DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (
"Actually these farmers' and fishermen's associations have already lost their function because they no longer post profits," Lin said. "Opposition parties' criticisms are obviously for political purposes."
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by