Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on legislators to quickly pass a motion to impeach President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to protect Taiwanese sovereignty and uphold a government regulated by the Constitution.
Accompanied by former vice premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清), Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠) and Kuo Jung-chung (郭榮宗), former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Parris Chang (張旭成) and Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) — one of the doctors in the all-volunteer medical group caring for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) — Lu announced at a press conference the founding of the Civilians to Impeach Ma Alliance.
Quoting Ma’s words during an anti-Chen rally on June 18, 2006, Lu said: “[When] the people, as the rulers of the country, take back the power [invested in the president], it is impeachment... Impeachment is not based on the prerequisite of the president having committed a crime .... if he is incompetent or cannot do his job, when his approval ratings are below 18 percent, it means the people no longer trust or respect him, and it is the time to take back [the] power.”
The protests erupted amid allegations that Chen had misused the state affairs fund and that former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) had accepted bribes in the form of department store vouchers.
The Taipei High Court later ruled that both Chen and Wu Shu-jen were guilty, but delayed sentencing until Chen had completed his term of office.
Lu said that with Ma’s approval ratings having fallen to a record-low of 9.2 percent — based on a public opinion poll conducted by EA Survey Research Center — he should heed his own words and step down from office.
However, the public cannot expect such a miracle, Lu said.
They must take a stand and impeach the president, she said.
The poll also showed that 80 percent of people no longer trust Ma, while less than 10 percent still have faith in him, Lu said, adding that Ma was “very, very close” to the low 8 percent approval rating that then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin had when he finally resigned from office.
Lu added that she was looking for a suitable location — which she hoped to announce by evening yesterday — where she could organize a rally lasting four days and four nights to call on Ma to resign.
Participants in the rally are advised to wear white to show their continuing support for the civic ideals espoused by the people who took to the streets on July 22 in protest against the government’s and the military’s handling of the death of army Corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘).
Hung died three days prior to finishing his mandatory military service, after collapsing from heat exhaustion allegedly caused by excessive punishment.
The results of the military investigation, which allowed Colonel Ho Chiang-chung (何江忠), former company commander Major Hsu Shin-cheng (徐信正) and Staff Sergeant Fan Tso-hsien (范佐憲) to remain free after posting bail, led to public protests and a revision of the military judicial system.
Lu called on the public to gather during the Mid-Autumn Festival on Thursday “dressed in white and force the tyrannical Ma to step down and save Taiwan.”
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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