The Central Election Commission has asked the opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan whether they intend to represent the "opposed" side against the administration in the 10 scheduled public debates on the two referendum questions.
The debates, five for each of the two questions, will pit the Executive Yuan, which is charged with implementing the referendum, against the opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan or civil groups that oppose the Cabinet's views.
In the event that there are no "opposed" groups, the scheduled debates will be transformed into a presentation of the Cabinet's views.
The commission has asked the Executive Yuan and any "opposed" groups to recommend between one and five people to represent them for the debates, adding that the opposition parties will have to provide their list of recommended representatives by Monday at the latest.
The 10 debates have been scheduled to be held between Feb. 20 and March 19.
The two questions to be asked in the March 20 referendum are:
"The people of the Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and openly renounce the use of force against us, do you agree that the government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities?"
"Do you agree that our government should engage in negotiation with China on the establishment of a peace and a stability framework for cross-strait interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples of both sides."
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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