The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) campaign to hold a referendum on the recovery of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) stolen assets proceeded to the second stage yesterday after the number of signatures submitted by the party to the Central Election Commission (CEC) passed the legal threshold.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun urged the public at a news conference to seek "transitional justice" by joining the second phase of the campaign.
According to the Referendum Law (公投法), the signatures of 0.5 percent of the nation's eligible voters, or 83,000 signatures, are needed for a referendum proposal to be established.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
After passing the threshold, another 830,000 signatures have to be gathered within six months for a referendum to be held. The DPP has set the goal of collecting 1 million signatures in the second stage.
"It has been 60 years since the KMT exploited its power to grab the nation's assets when it was the ruling party," Yu said, adding that although former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and current Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had promised to return the assets to the people, but "Ma has been saying one thing while doing another."
Yu accused Ma of trying to prevent the campaign from completing its first stage by having district household registration offices in Taipei delay the verification process for the signatures the DPP had submitted to the CEC.
"So far we have successfully managed to breach Ma's illegal and unconstitutional blockage [of the campaign]. We will surely be able to garner 1 million signatures [needed for the referendum to be held]," he said.
"We believe it is the people's basic right to hold a referendum," Yu said.
"It is also a human right and a tool that can be used by the people to prevent the legislature from being idle. Ma should not try to stop it," he added.
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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