Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will hold a press conference tomorrow to express local leaders' united opposition to China's "anti-secession" law to the global community, on the same day that the law is due to be passed in Beijing.
Ma said yesterday that he is inviting all 23 of the nation's regional heads of government to participate, regardless of party affiliation. Ma added that he may not attend the March 26 protest against the anti-secession law being organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
"I think it is important to hold an international press conference to express our views," Ma said yesterday while at an event celebrating yesterday's Arbor Day in Taipei. "This is the kind of response that we regional governments should have, to represent the public will of the people at the fundamental level."
The Taipei City Government sent out invitations to the heads of the nation's county, provincial municipality and special municipality governments on Friday, Ma said. He added that the Taipei City Government will soon publicize the text of a document it is asking the county and city heads to sign in an expression of their united opposition to China's anti-secession law.
When asked by reporters if he would consider attending the nation-wide protest organized by the DPP against China's proposed law on March 26, Ma said that since he has already expressed his personal views on the anti-secession law, there is no need for him attend all events regarding it. As a result, Ma said, he did not sign a similar joint resolution initiated March 7 by acting Kaoshiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (
Chen yesterday criticized Ma for not signing the March 7 resolution and not supporting the March 26 rally.
"First, on Monday, we sent the resolution to Ma in the hope that he would sign, and he didn't," Chen said. "Second, he has also said that he believes the March 26 parade to be an inflammatory action.
Chen said in light of Ma's action, "regardless of whether you are blue or green," it's only natural for some to be unwilling to attend Ma's press conference, especially since it's held by someone who "does not dare join a march all the people care about."
He said that he may not attend tomorrow's event for that reason.
The press conference is slated to be held tomorrow afternoon at Taipei City Hall.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS