The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said that its roadshow featuring Cabinet members addressing opposition-imposed budget cuts should not be confused with campaigning to recall opposition lawmakers.
At a news conference in Taipei announcing the roadshow, which starts tomorrow, DPP Secretary-General Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said that the tour was not to push the recall campaigns against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, which had emerged swiftly over the past few weeks.
“[I] urge the public to not confuse the two events,” Lin said, adding that the roadshow and the recall campaigns were “not directly related.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The DPP is building “a large platform for society” and “welcomes everyone to come and listen to speeches,” Lin said.
While Lin sought to draw a line between the party’s initiative and the recall movement, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told reporters on Wednesday that the two events were “complementary.”
Lin said President William Lai (賴清德), who also serves as DPP chairman, would not appear in any of the speaking events.
The tour is to begin in Taichung tomorrow.
Over the next two weeks, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said he and Cabinet officials would directly report to the public about how they would be impacted by government budget freezes and cuts.
At a separate news conference, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the premier would be an “invitee” to the DPP’s events and that no government funds would be used in his involvement in the tour.
The government maintains that the budget cuts and freezes ordered by the opposition-controlled legislature have affected the normal operations of government agencies.
The legislature has cut about NT$207.6 billion (US$6.3 billion) in funding and frozen an additional NT$183.1 billion of the Executive Yuan’s proposed NT$3.1 trillion budget.
Shortly after the DPP’s announcement, the KMT said it was also planning to launch a speech event next month to highlight the party’s efforts in promoting measures that benefit the livelihood and welfare of the public.
The event would also focus on reporting on the incompetence of the DPP government, KMT spokesperson Crystal Yang (楊智?) told reporters yesterday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS