Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) yesterday said they are planning to propose an amendment that would prohibit the use of party emblems with a high degree of similarity to national symbols.
The national emblem — which was adopted in 1947 and depicts a white sun in a blue sky — was derived from the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) emblem.
The continued use of the symbol by the KMT causes confusion about the separation of party and state, and conflicts with modern ideas that emerged during 30 years of democratic development in the nation, the legislators said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
In the KMT emblem, the sun is larger and its 12 rays touch the outer edge of the blue circle that encompasses them, but it is otherwise identical to the national emblem, they said.
“Once the amendment is passed, it will be applicable to all parties. I urge the KMT to see things not just from its own perspective. Everything it does as a political party should put the nation first,” Chen said.
“In the past, there was no distinction between the KMT and the state, but times have changed — Taiwan is no longer a one-party state,” Wang said. “This amendment is straightforward and well-intentioned. We are only aiming to avoid confusion between party and state symbols, and the KMT does not need to be so sensitive about it.”
Chen and Wang proposed amending Article 14 of the Political Parties Act (政黨法), which stipulates the rules for symbols of political parties, adding the clause that the emblems cannot be too similar to that of the nation.
The legislators said they would raise the issue in the legislature next week.
In response, the KMT yesterday accused the DPP of using its administrative majority to attack opposition parties.
“They are not just after our assets, now they want our emblem too,” the KMT said.
The symbols are similar, because the KMT established the state, it said, adding that the party’s emblem is symbolic of its reverence for the revolutionary martyrs of its past.
“The KMT established the state, and the national emblem was modeled after that of the KMT. The DPP should not have history backward,” the KMT said. “The DPP is doing a terrible job managing the nation’s internal affairs, so it is engaging in ideological warfare.”
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS