CEC approves three more referendums for August
THE PEOPLE’S CHOICES: The referendums include two proposed by the KMT to end certain US pork imports and change how referendums are scheduled
Staff writer, with CNA
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday approved three referendum proposals, bringing to four the number of national referendums to be held in August.
The three proposals just added are about the protection of a coastal algal reef, pork imports containing traces of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine and referendum scheduling.
Each of the referendum initiatives passed the second hurdle, which requires at least 289,667 endorsement signatures from eligible voters based on the most recent presidential election, the commission said.
Tsai’s public health policy a failure: KMT
By Shih Hsiao-kuang,
Chien Hui-ju
and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has failed to protect public health, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, citing a survey suggesting that people are unhappy with the government’s pork and COVID-19 vaccine policies.
In a survey commissioned by the party that was conducted by TVBS Media, 69.6 percent of respondents said they disapproved of importing pork products containing ractopamine residue, including 46.6 percent who “strongly disapproved” of the policy, KMT Culture and Communications Committee chairwoman Alicia Wang (王育敏) told a news conference in Taipei.
President to order DPP to campaign for ‘no’ on Aug. 28
By Yang Chung-jui, Wu Su-wei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is today to order the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to campaign against four referendums to be held on Aug. 28, DPP spokeswoman Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said yesterday.
The four referendums are initiatives to restart construction at the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant; ban pork imports that contain ractopamine; relocate a planned liquefied natural gas terminal; and hold referendums and elections concurrently.
Reiterating a Facebook post made by Tsai earlier in the day, Yan said that the position of the president, who is also party chairperson, is: “Four nays make Taiwan stronger.”
Nuclear plants a big security risk,
As Taiwan’s August referendum on completing its Fourth Nuclear Power Plant approaches, one question that has not yet been fully considered is to what extent this and Taiwan’s other three plants are military liabilities radioactive targets that China aims to attack. At best, a threatened strike or an intentional near-miss against one plant would likely force the government to shut the other nuclear plants down as a precaution. At worst, a strike could produce Chernobyl-like contamination, forcing the evacuation of millions.
Some partial, temporary defenses are possible and should be pursued, but ultimately, the smart money is on substituting non-nuclear alternatives for these reactors as soon as possible.
Growing number of Asian countries ravaged by fresh coronavirus waves. World Health Organisation updates its coronavirus advice, acknowledging aerosol transmission as the major source of infection. Covid-19: hopes for ‘Herd Immunity’ fade as virus hurtles toward becoming endemic. Biden’s proposal to waive patent rights for vaccine production has raised quite a storm.
Climate change: how bad could the future be, if we do nothing?
And now – to nuclear issues. There have been a number of important articles this week, on nuclear weapons in space – the militarisation of space. It’s ironic that a big news discussion has also gone on, about an ”out-of-control” Chinese rocket, that could have hit land and caused havoc. Ever ready to put a comforting Western spin on the news, this incident was used by the media to show how very safe U.S. rockets are, in comparison with those reckless Chinese efforts.