Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) yesterday completed a 10-day walk with a night concert featuring artists known for their political advocacy ahead of a recall vote today.
Chen represents Taichung’s second electoral district, which encompasses Dadu (大肚), Shalu (沙鹿), Longjing (龍井), Wufong (霧峰) and Wurih (烏日) districts, after last year defeating his predecessor, Yen Kuan-hen (顏寬恒) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), scion of a wealthy political family.
“I have only been in this job for one year and nine months, but now am being subjected to public scrutiny,” Chen said, adding that he was physically exhausted after covering close to 200km on the walk. “It is my hope that voters give me more time to serve them and to complete the plans I had envisioned for the people.”
Photo: CNA
Chen and supporters completed the march and wrapped up the evening with a concert near the city’s High-Speed Rail station.
The concert, themed “Taiwan’s democracy transition,” featured videos of people protesting during the Martial Law era and political figures demanding freedom and democracy. Speakers touted Taiwan’s democratic systems and vowed not to forget the past KMT regime’s oppression and autocratic rule.
The concert was organized by the Taiwanese Cultural Association, the Taiwan Youth Foundation and the Laiho Cultural Foundation, and was approved after organizers pledged disease prevention measures amid the level 2 alert for COVID-19.
Separately, former KMT chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and other KMT politicians attended a rally at a plaza in Longjing, urging people vote to recall Chen.
Earlier in the day, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) accompanied the recall Chen campaign in Wufong, calling on residents to support the recall vote, citing Chen’s support of a government policy to allow imports of US pork with residual ractopamine.
Chen should have stood with the people and voiced their disagreement to the policy, yet he is focused only on the differences in ideologies of the camps on either side of the independence debate, Chu said.
The issue of US pork allows people to see the moral fiber of the people’s representatives, and the public has made its voice known that our posterity should be protected from potential harm that residual ractopamine can generate, Chu said.
The recall vote is one in which the people can make their voice heard, and the KMT, a democratic party, stands and supports the opinions of local people, he said.
Additional reporting by Ho Tsung-han and Chang Hsuan-che
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition