Neither Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) nor his Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) counterpart Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) has confirmed their participation in a national security briefing called by the Presidential Office next week.
Speaking separately with media yesterday, both leaders said they needed more information before deciding whether to attend.
“The information [we have] right now remains confusing and vague,” Huang told a news conference in Taipei, adding that he did not even know the agenda or whether President William Lai (賴清德) would attend in person.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
He said that while the TPP had responded positively to Lai’s proposal, made during a speech marking the first anniversary of his inauguration, he was now concerned whether such a meeting would be just a briefing from one side, rather than an exchange of views between different parties.
Chu expressed the same concern when he spoke with reporters during a temple visit in Taipei.
The planned meeting “should not be a one-way lecture from the president,” but rather a mutual discussion covering a range of national security issues, including defense, the economy and energy, Chu said.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) called KMT and TPP representatives on Thursday to discuss the planning of the proposed briefing on Wednesday next week, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said.
Kuo expressed hope that the opposition leaders would accept the invitation, adding that this would be the first time the Presidential Office holds a national security briefing specifically for the opposition.
She did not disclose what was discussed during Pan’s phone calls or provide any specific details on the planning of the proposed briefing.
During his speech on May 20, Lai urged leaders across party lines to “prioritize our nation’s interests and uphold our nation’s security,” adding that “grounded in shared facts, we can openly and honestly exchange views and discuss matters of national importance” and “tackle our nation’s challenges side by side.”
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS