Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) could be one of the speakers at next week’s protest against the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced on Wednesday that it would hold a massive rally in Taipei City on June 26 to demand the government put its proposed ECFA to a referendum.
Citing a sharp divide in polls over the controversial trade agreement, the DPP is set to unveil a new referendum proposal asking voters whether they agreed with an ECFA at the rally.
The DPP’s standing committee is expected to give the go ahead tomorrow for the rally and to authorize the DPP’s ECFA response team to launch a mobilization order asking tens of thousands of party supporters to congregate in Taipei City.
Party sources told the Central News Agency that the protest could be divided into two routes that would later congregate on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
While the agency reported that as many as 100,000 are expected to attend the rally, DPP ECFA response team spokesperson Julian Kuo (郭正亮) told the Taipei Times earlier yesterday that the number could reach 200,000.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Kao Chien-chih (高建智) said the party would invite Lee to attend the rally, along with a number of pro-independence organizations and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
TSU Chairperson Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) and a number of other pro-independence heavyweights are expected to hold a joint press conference today in support of the rally.
The June 26 protest will be the biggest rally to date against an ECFA and in support of a referendum being held on the issue.
In related news, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday downplayed comments reportedly made by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) that Tsai would be the DPP’s candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
Tsai said she had no comment, adding that the DPP was firmly focused on the year-end special municipality elections.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS