Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday the party would soon decide what to do with two party members who attended a forum in China at the weekend against party directives.
Cheng said that the party was collecting information about the words and deeds of former DPP legislator Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑) and former Council of Agriculture minister Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) when they attended the two-day Fifth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in Changsha, Hunan Province, and would send the two to the party’s Central Review Committee for disciplinary action later this week.
He said the party had urged Hsu not to participate in the forum before her departure, but she went anyway.
After her return, Hsu said that she was moved by the friendliness, honesty and manner in which Chinese treated Taiwanese who visit China.
Cheng said it was obvious that Hsu was a victim of Beijing’s unification strategy.
Fan argues that the DPP had never told him not to attend the forum, but Fan is not a three-year old, Chang said, adding that he was a senior politician who once served as Hsinchu County commissioner.
It is impossible for him not to understand the party’s position on the matter, and it is impossible for him not to understand the political implications behind the Chinese Communist Party’s invitation for him to attend the forum, Cheng said.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) yesterday said Hsu’s remarks in China that “the Chinese Communists had treated Taiwanese compatriots like their own flesh and blood” filled him with “disgust.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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