The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) referendum campaigns against the abolition of the death penalty and martial law are designed to deceive the public and shift focus away from the ongoing recall movement, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday announced that his party would launch a campaign to hold referendums opposing the abolition of the death penalty and what he said was a push toward martial law and war by the DPP.
“KMT is misleading people, saying they are fighting against martial law. Are they joking? President William Lai [賴清德] had already said Taiwan must not go back to live under martial law,” Ker told a news briefing in the legislature yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“It is the KMT who long for the past, wishing for the return of martial law in Taiwan, but they accuse Lai of wanting to do so. KMT officials are distorting the truth and continue to try to deceive the public,” he added. The purpose “is to confuse people and shift focus away from the ongoing recall movement.”
The Constitutional Court in September last year ruled that capital punishment is valid in some murder cases, he said, adding that judicial authorities had administered the death sentence in January for a convicted murderer.
“So, it is very clear that capital punishment is still on the books, but the KMT still wants to push this referendum,” he said.
Separately, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) said Chu last month declared that KMT legislators would focus on bills concerning people’s livelihood, economy and social welfare programs.
“But now, they are taking up efforts and resources to push for these two non-existent issues,” Wu said.
Some legal experts said the KMT’s proposals could not be valid, as the government did not abolish capital punishment or impose martial law.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
RSS