The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday said it will formally ask the Constitutional Court to legally dissolve the Chinese Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), alleging that the party is involved in organized crime and that several members have broken national security and election laws.
In a statement, the MOI said its Political Party Review Committee approved a resolution to seek the dissolution of the New Taipei-based CUPP with a required two-thirds vote after inviting the party's leadership to make a statement in its defense.
The MOI claimed the CUPP is known to be involved in organized crime, and has core members who have "repeatedly" violated the National Security Act, Anti-Infiltration Act, Cross-Strait Act and election laws, thus "endangering national security, social stability and fair elections."
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
While the MOI "respects" the political stances made in the CUPP's party charter and platform, it "cannot accept" repeated national security violations and acts of violence by party members, the statement said.
According to the MOI, the CUPP’s "links to foreign forces" and "use of a political party name as a cover for organized crime," among other things, violate the Constitution and laws, even if the party does not hold any seats in the Legislature or any city or county councils.
Under Taiwan's Constitution, the MOI noted, authorities can request the dissolution of a political party "[whose] goals or activities endanger the existence of the Republic of China or the nation's free and democratic constitutional order."
The MOI acknowledged that its request may be complicated by an ongoing political dispute over Constitutional Court vacancies and reform legislation, which has left the court's operations in a cloud of uncertainty.
A request to disband the CUPP will be submitted as the court's situation permits, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS