A petition to block Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from registering his political party under the name Taiwan People’s Party (台灣民眾黨) passed its initial legal review, the online public policy platform showed yesterday.
From its launch on Friday last week to press time last night, the petition had gathered 1,115 signatures. It must collect 5,000 signatures by Oct. 5 to require the government to issue an official response, according to join.gov.tw.
The petition’s sponsor, former Tainan deputy mayor Tseng Hsu-cheng (曾旭正), has said that Ko should not be allowed to “muddle history” by reusing the name of the party that Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) founded in 1927.
Photo: Hung Jui-ching, Taipei Times
Following yesterday’s announcement, Tseng on Facebook called on the public to sign the petition, saying that the news was a “gift” for Ko after his convention to found the party was officially formed earlier yesterday.
“A politician has proposed registering a new political party under the name Taiwan People’s Party, while bearing no resemblance in purpose, spirit or character to the Taiwan People’s Party of the past century or its founder, Chiang,” the petition reads. “It is deeply inappropriate to allow the machinations of politicians to mislead innocent members of the public in their understanding of history.”
The Ministry of Culture should explain the historical relevance of Chiang’s movement, while the Ministry of the Interior should amend the Political Parties Act (政黨法) to close the loophole that would allow Ko to use the name, it says.
The petition would “protect a historical and cultural heritage from pollution” and “ensure that the farcical plagiarism of history by political parties will not repeat itself,” the organizers said.
Under the act, the name or abbreviation of a political party should not be similar or identical to a political party that has already been established, have potential for confusion with a governmental or nonprofit organization, or incite discrimination or hatred.
It also stipulates that the responsible agency should establish a body to arbitrate “doubts or concerns ... regarding a political party’s disciplinary actions, name, abbreviation or emblem, or other related matters.”
The Ministry of the Interior would convene a committee to review Ko’s application if the petition obtains the necessary number of signatures, a source said on condition of anonymity.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the