The time has arrived for Taiwan to have a second “silent revolution,” Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) told the party’s conference yesterday afternoon at the National Taiwan Sport University in Taoyuan.
The first “silent revolution” was the democratization process in the early 1990s initiated by then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
The conference in the school’s gymnasium was attended by 5,141 TPP members.
Photo: CNA
In his opening remarks, Ko talked about political reform under Lee and the need for reform today.
“Lee’s greatest contribution was setting Taiwan on an irreversible path to democratization, without which we would not be meeting today to discuss Taiwan’s future,” Ko said.
“Direct presidential elections were held and a Taiwanese consciousness was established, but today political power goes unchecked and the major parties vie for power,” he said. A “second silent revolution is needed for social inclusion [in politics] and the realization of national governance.”
The TPP could hopefully be a “model” party in the legislature, engaging with legislators from other parties rather than confronting them, he said.
Social inclusion could be achieved through communication with the public, Ko said, citing the Taipei-Shanghai twin-city summit, which he said was of benefit to Taiwanese businesspeople and students in China, despite being “smeared as a pro-China” activity.
The central government must “create flexible international space” and must not let ideology prevent it from communicating with China, he said.
The TPP would continue to act as a check on budget spending, promote constitutional reform and fight for issues such as housing justice and amendments to the Mining Act (礦業法), he said.
The party needed to elect a public liaison official, and would hold smaller member meetings in every county and municipality, he added.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
WASHED ASHORE: Of the 16 bodies discovered along Taiwan’s west coast this month, two were Vietnamese and five were Taiwanese, coast guard officials said Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said that he has instructed prosecutors and maritime authorities to launch investigations after 16 bodies were found along Taiwan’s west coast this month, amid speculation that they were victims of smuggling or human trafficking rings. Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officials said the bodies, most of which had washed ashore, were found by coast guard personnel and local residents along the coastline from Keelung to Kaohsiung. Thirteen of the bodies are male and three are female, the CGA said, adding that items found on the bodies indicate that two of the men were Vietnamese, while three men
TASK FORCE DISPATCHED: MOFA said it would assist state employees with repatriation or relocation to other ally nations in the region after Tegucigalpa severed ties The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Monday ordered Honduras to vacate its embassy in Taiwan within 30 days of Sunday after Tegucigalpa made a similar demand of Taiwan. Taipei on Monday announced that it had cut ties with Honduras after the Central American nation earlier said in a statement that it had established ties with Beijing and ended its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. Following the announcements, Honduran Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Garcia spoke on Honduran television saying that Taiwan would be required to vacate its embassy in the Honduran capital. In Taipei, MOFA later told a news conference that “according
CHINA TRIP: The former president said he hoped the two sides of the Taiwan Strait would work together to pursue peace, avoid war and strive to ‘revitalize China’ Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday began a 12-day tour of China with a visit to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. He paid tribute to Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), a founder of the Republic of China, giving a short speech and then bowing in front of the memorial. “The people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation, are children of Yandi (炎帝) and Huangdi (黃帝),” he told reporters who had been allowed to follow him on the trip, referring to figures said to have founded of the Han ethnicity in ancient China. Ma has framed the trip as
RSS