As the one-year anniversary of the Sunflower movement approaches, activists have scheduled a series of events to highlight the goals sought during the landmark protests in which tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied against the government’s handing of a proposed service trade pact with China.
Led by Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強), a coalition of social advocacy groups are to rally outside the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday next week, marking the day when student-led protesters first swarmed the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber.
Lai called on the public to support the groups’ three main demands: the establishment of an oversight bill to monitor cross-strait agreements, constitutional reforms and an immediate halt to cross-strait negotiations on trade in industrial and agricultural goods.
The passage of a cross-strait oversight bill was the primary demand of the Sunflower movement, after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) sparked a public outcry when he attempted to ram through a preliminary reading of the service trade pact in about 30 seconds.
With eight versions of a cross-strait oversight bill now under legislative review, the groups announced the launch of an online voting campaign to invite grassroots input.
“The Internet is the most powerful weapon for civic participation, which is why we aim to use the Internet to change the face of the nation’s politics,” Congress Investigational Corps member Wang Hsi (王希) said.
A Web site detailing the eight versions of the oversight bill is set to be launched on Wednesday next week to coincide with the movement’s anniversary, Wang said, adding that the group is planning a detailed online questionnaire to invite public participation.
Although President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has drafted one version of a cross-strait oversight bill, the proposal has been met with serious opposition from pro-independence groups.
The groups also urged comprehensive constitutional reforms, as events leading up to the Sunflower movement spurred discussion about the nation’s political institutions being unable to prevent presidential abuse of power.
A public forum on the oversight bill and constitutional reforms has been scheduled for Saturday next week, the groups said.
Headed by Sunflower leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), a separate rally is to take place on April 10, the one-year anniversary of the day that protesters ended their 23-day occupation of the legislature’s main chamber.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
RSS