The Taiwan Statebuilding Party yesterday called for the government to create a Taiwanese national day and drop holidays celebrating the Republic of China (ROC), while the Taiwan Republic Office called for a referendum to choose a date to hold a national day for Taiwan.
Double Ten National Day was created by the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to celebrate the Oct. 10, 1911, Wuchang Uprising against the Qing Dynasty, which preceded the founding of the ROC, Taiwan Statebuilding Party secretary-general Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said.
“It is a tragedy to celebrate Double Ten National Day, which was imposed by force by the KMT dictatorship, indoctrinating Taiwanese to submit to the colonial ROC regime and resulting in the current confusion of identifying Taiwan with the foreign Chinese nation-state,” he said. “But it is not the ‘national day’ for Taiwanese, as there is no nationhood for Taiwan yet.”
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
“Successive governments in Taiwan have taken to celebrating Double Ten National Day each year to re-enforce ROC colonial rule over the subjugated people,” he added.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party also disagrees with the Democratic Progressive Party’s efforts to remove the term ROC from holiday signage and promotion materials by using “Taiwan National Day” instead, Wang said.
“This is not transitional justice,” he said, adding that the DPP is impeding efforts to pursue Taiwan’s national identity and oust the remnants of the ROC colonial regime.
Photo provided by Taiwan Republic Office media release
Taiwan needs to do away with Double Ten National Day celebrations, and phase out the ROC political framework, he said.
“Forcing Taiwan inside the constraints of the ROC regime is not the right way to go,” he added.
Separately, members of the Taiwan Republic Office and allied pro-Taiwanese independence groups protested on Ketagalan Boulevard outside a cordoned off area in front of the Presidential Office Building during a Double Ten National Day ceremony yesterday morning.
The protesters said that as the holiday commemorated the Wuchang Uprising, when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, it had nothing to do with Taiwan.
Instead, a new national holiday should be created and a date relevant to Taiwan’s history should be decided by voters through a referendum.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS