The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are to hold an opposition leaders’ meeting tomorrow morning, with KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) to attend, both parties confirmed yesterday.
The meeting would focus on “returning democracy to Taiwan,” they said.
Although it has been nearly a year since President William Lai (賴清德) took office, societal friction continues, national infrastructure developments have halted and few changes have been made to address the international situation, the KMT said in a statement.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The government must promptly address the international political and economic situation, as the clock is ticking for Taiwan amid the US-China tariff war, it said.
The opposition parties must implement legislative reforms to enhance the legislature’s supervisory powers, and reinforce checks and balances to prevent a dictatorship, it said.
The KMT said that judicial authorities have targeted opposition lawmakers with large-scale searches of their offices and residences.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Under the administration of Lai, former Taipei mayor and TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been detained on graft allegations, and KMT employees, volunteers and supporters have been detained and questioned, it said, calling the actions a crackdown on opposition forces.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has eroded judicial independence, creating a chilling effect on Taiwanese, the KMT said, urging people to unite to “return democracy to Taiwan.”
The goal of the opposition leaders’ meeting is to help the country find a way out of the current situation, it said.
It is “inevitable” that the KMT would seek to enhance its cooperation with the TPP, Chu said.
Aside from continued cooperation between the opposition parties, matters beneficial to the country would also be discussed, he added.
Separately, the TPP said that most Taiwanese would not agree that the Lai administration has demonstrated the attitude and competence of a responsible government.
The governing party has provoked hatred and created conflict to divert attention from its poor performance, while using the judicial system as a means of political score-settling, it said.
A dialogue between opposition forces is urgently necessary to deal with the governing party, the TPP said, urging opposition leaders to find common ground and facilitate social cohesion.
The leaders at tomorrow’s meeting would discuss challenges facing the country, such as international tariffs and judicial reform, the party said.
Huang said the opposition cannot just sit by and do nothing when unstable domestic politics are harming people and trampling judicial justice.
The TPP would adhere to Ko’s political belief: “We have different pasts and the same present, and what we should think about is whether or not we will deal with common challenges together,” Huang said.
DPP spokeswoman Han Ying (韓瑩) said that it was the opposition parties that were trampling democracy and the rule of law.
The KMT and the TPP are the most ineligible to talk about democracy, she said, urging the opposition to end the partisan fighting and stop attacking judicial credibility or disrupting the constitutional and political system.
Lai has been steadfast in governing the country and has been addressing US tariff policies to safeguard Taiwan’s economy amid global changes, Han said.
In contrast, the KMT and the TPP have not only forged recall petition signatures, but are also attempting to work together to justify illegal actions such as stigmatizing judicial investigations, she said.
“There will be no ‘leaders’ meeting,’ but a ‘democracy-sabotaging meetup,’” she added.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
RSS