The DPP will launch a presidential election publicity drive next month highlighting the opposition's attempts in the legislature to block reforms promised by President Chen Shui-bian (
"We want to clarify to the public who exactly is blocking the reform measures to boost Taiwan's economic development and financial competitiveness," DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
In a strategy reminiscent of the campaign for the 2001 legislative elections, the party said that next year's vote would be about "reform versus relapse."
Before the last legislative elections, the newly elected DPP government attacked the opposition parties for cutting budgets and rejecting a number of DPP-led social welfare reforms.
The DPP overtook the KMT as the single largest party in the legislature, although if failed to secure a majority.
High-ranking officials in charge of campaign strategy, including legislative caucus chief Ker Chien-ming (
Lee's statements came a day after Premier Yu Shyi-kun voiced his resentment over legislative intransigence in passing reform measures.
He blamed the pan-blue camp for leading a conservative anti-reform drive in the legislature.
"The performance of this legislative session was extremely poor, as it passed only 53 bills, while the average number of bills passed in the previous sessions of the legislature was about 150. It was all because of a legislative impasse directed by the opposition camp's anti-reform force," Lee said.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei also described the recent session of the legislature as disappointing and "unfortunate," since lawmakers failed to pass bills that the organization had considered vital to economic growth, Lee said.
Lee accused KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"This legislative session was originally scheduled to end in June 15. However, because Lien and Soong wanted to launch the campaign ahead of time, the scheduled ending date was moved forward to June 6 -- which is inconsistent with the legislature's customary practice of ending its first session of the year in mid-June," Lee said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
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TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
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