True democracy requires respecting minority views and the Constitutional Court should not be used to resolve political disputes, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said on Saturday.
In a speech titled “The Resilience and Transformation of Taiwan’s Democracy” at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s first public talk in 17 years, he said that a core value of democracy is tolerating, respecting and including different voices, and that no one person is more important than others.
Choice is the core of a democratic system, and citizens are the true masters of their country and its leader, he said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The separation of powers and a system of checks and balances are crucial in ensuring that no one body or individual can wield total or disproportionate power, he added.
Every president and administration has their own way of doing things, and no one is necessarily right or wrong, Chen said, adding that he could only speak to his experience governing, during which tolerance and mutual respect were important.
During the two months before he first took office in 2000, he met with then-outgoing president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) 10 times, he said.
That year he hosted a summit with opposition and ruling party leaders — including then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), among others — at the Presidential Office, he said, adding he took Lien’s advice on the economy at that time.
Regarding the current administration’s call for constitutional interpretations, Chen said that Constitutional Court justices should not be called upon to step in as arbiters on every issue.
The justices should not get involved in political disputes and government branches should not take advantage of them or put them in an unfair position, he added.
Democracy is the best path for Taiwan and the nation should not regret pursuing it, Chen said.
National sovereignty belongs to all citizens, and only Taiwan’s 23 million people can decide the nation’s future, he said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS