Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) yesterday led members of his anti-nuclear group in a silent protest in front of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) central headquarters, demanding that the party honor its promise to carry out legislative reform as well as support a national referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
It was the third time that Lin had visited the KMT during the past two weeks to seek the party's cooperation with the ruling DPP.
On Friday, Lin went so far as to state that to achieve their goal of having the newly passed Referendum Law amended to halve the number of legislative seats and establish a nuclear-free nation, his supporters may soon resort to radical measures, including hunger strikes and even self-immolation in extreme cases.
On Lin's previous two visits to the party's headquarters, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Yesterday, however, it was the deputy chairman of the party's administrative and management committee, Lin Yong-rui, who appeared to receive the complaint. The group was expected to leave KMT headquarters at about 5pm yesterday.
Lin and members of the Committee for a Public Referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant visited the KMT's headquarters on Dec. 12 and Dec. 18 in peaceful demonstrations which won the KMT's support, forcing Lien to state that he would support a referendum over the plant.
During yesterday's demonstration, members of the committee walked around the KMT headquarters, singing, "I love Taiwan." They said that the Public Referendum Law had five major faults and demanded that KMT legislators quickly rectify the problems and restore the people's rights.
"Taiwan will be drowned in chaos. That politics and politicians are reduced to using sweet talk to assume power, only then to forget about the people's approval, will be a major reason for this. The process of approving and passing the Referendum Law proves the extent to which this bad habit has taken hold," the statement said.
As far as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is concerned, the committee said that the opposition parties must revert to their former agreement for a non-nuclear nation and work together for a legislative resolution that, "There will always be electricity and that until a final depository for nuclear waste has been found, nuclear power will cease to be developed and a non-nuclear family will be established."
If the Legislative Yuan cannot pass such a resolution, then all political parties must agree to put it to a referendum.
Lin Yong-rui said that the committee's position would be relayed to the highest levels of the KMT for their immediate attention.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
RSS