President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the vow during a campaign rally held in Kaohsiung City last night.
During the rally, Chen once again said that it was imperative that the pan-greens are successful in the legislative elections, adding that the pan-blues have exploited their majority in the legislature while attempting to paralyze the government over the past three years.
Chen said, when he took over the office of Taipei Mayor in 1998, he told Taipei's citizens that he would improve Taipei's notorious traffic situation within two years. After his determined efforts, the traffic situation was improved.
"I believed that if people of Taiwan could give us a chance and support the pan-green camp to win a majority in the legislature -- only give us two years and I promise that I will do a good job as a president and lead the country to become a great, normal and complete country," Chen said. "Otherwise, I am willing to step down as president."
Chen added that Kaohsiung City Government, which is supported by a pan-green controlled City Council, provides an example of a government that can really do something good for citizens.
Chen also promised that if the pan-greens win a majority in the legislature, the government will pass a National Pension Law (
Legislation governing the Resolution Trust Cooperation (
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday held a campaign rally in northern Kaohsiung City to boost its legislative candidates Kuan Pi-ling (
Noticeably, the five candidates did not boast about themselves. Instead, they showered praise on their fellow candidates, showing that the united pan-green campaign strategy and vote allocation plan is working.
Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
Meanwhile, early in the day before attending the rally in Kaohsiung City, President Chen Shui-bian (
There he called on people of different ethnic groups to get along with each other and stressed that only if Taiwan's people unite can the country face threats from outside.
"It is undeniable that Taiwan has different ethnic groups. But everyone has to know we only have one country," Chen said. "I believe that Taiwan has no ethnic problem, but only a problem of national identification."
In his speech, Chen redefined the "five ethnic groups" proposed by Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), pointing out that the five ethnic groups who reside in Taiwan are Hoklo, Hakka, Aborigine, Mainlanders and foreigners -- including brides from Southeast Asian countries and China.
"It is unnecessary for a small number of ethnic groups to bear historical burdens," Chen said. "Under the principle of the DPP's Resolution on Ethnic Diversity and National Unity, there was no oppressor and victim. Everyone is equal and everyone is the owner of the land."
Chen once again stressed that "Taiwan is the Republic of China, the Republic of China is Taiwan," asking people not to hold on to fantasies about the country's territory and to acknowledge the nation's reality.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS