Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday gave mixed reviews to a call by party headquarters to promote the government’s proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China by holding conferences at the local level.
KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) told reporters that although he had received a letter from party headquarters urging the party’s lawmakers to help promote the proposed pact, he believed it would be better for the party to garner public support for the agreement in a more subtle manner.
“Holding conferences deliberately [to promote an ECFA] will never be as effective as influencing public opinion imperceptibly,” Chung told reporters at the legislature.
KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) said it would be difficult for legislators to promote an ECFA because many do not know enough about it.
The KMT caucus recently received a letter from KMT headquarters calling on lawmakers to explain and promote the ECFA to the general public.
Party headquarters urged legislators to hold sessions for a minimum of 200 people each in their own electoral districts next month while the party will offer a NT$10,000 subsidy for each session.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) quoted an anonymous pan-blue politician yesterday as saying that many KMT legislators from southern Taiwan had reservations about helping the party promote the ECFA because signing the agreement could deal a blow to traditional industries.
But KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) said he had held a number of ECFA-related sessions, adding that KMT lawmakers could directly help answer the public’s questions about the ECFA during the sessions.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), who also previously helped at several sessions, said he supported the party’s call, adding this would increase public understanding of the agreement.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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