The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) announced yesterday it was organizing a petition drive to solicit 1 million signatures supporting the creation of a new constitution to coincide with a march in favor of referendum legislation to be held in Kaohsiung tomorrow.
TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (
Organizers expect the march to attract more than 200,000 people. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who proposed a new constitution during the DPP's 17th anniversary celebrations on Sept. 28, will give a speech at the rally promoting his party's constitutional reform platform.
Tomorrow's march comes less than two months after pro-independence activists organized a march in Taipei on Sept. 6 to call for a change in the country's name from "Republic of China" to "Taiwan."
Pro-independence supporters, led by former president Lee Teng-hui (
Huang said the establishment of a new constitution would enable Taiwan to assert its de jure independence.
Not to be outdone, pro-unification supporters are planning a counter-protest in downtown Taipei tomorrow to oppose the establishment of a new constitution and to safeguard the status of the ROC. They will be marking Retrocession Day, the day in 1945 when Taiwan reverted to ROC rule after Japan's defeat in World War II.
The protest is being led by Elmer Feng (
Feng said yesterday that the presidential election will be a crusade to safeguard the survival of the ROC against the establishment of a Republic of Taiwan.
The alliance posted advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers yesterday to call for pro-unification supporters to join the march.
"The march is being staged to oppose the DPP's march to push for Taiwan independence, an attempt to annihilate the ROC," the alliance said in the advertisements.
The legislative assembly is today expected to consider whether to pass the DPP's version of the referendum law on to the second reading.
The DPP's referendum law allows for referendums to decide the nation's sovereignty, including changes to the national flag and national title.
However, referendums on sovereignty issues would be limited to "defensive use." In other words, the president could initiate such a referendum if Taiwan comes under foreign military threat.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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