Word: referendums
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...President Chen has proposed a referendum to be held alongside Taiwan's presidential election in March. It would ask the people whether Taiwan should apply to join the United Nations under the name "Taiwan." After Beijing took over Taiwan's U.N. seat in 1971, the island has failed in its attempt to re-enter the body under its formal national title of "Republic of China." Chen says he doesn't want to compete with China for representation, but to find a global voice for Taiwan's 23 million people. Any application to the U.N. by Taiwan would have no chance...
...dealt a setback by a committee from Taiwan's cabinet that voted to reject the referendum proposed by Chen's Democratic Progressive Party. But Chen has vowed to forge ahead and find a way to get it on the ballot. "I am sure that next year referendums on several issues will be held in tandem with the presidential election," he told the Washington Post last weekend...
...Indeed, mainland officials have taken steps to quietly encourage international opposition to the proposal. Part of their cautious approach, says Yang, is to let the U.S. take a lead role in opposing a referendum on U.N. entry. Shortly after Chen announced plans for the referendum U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the U.S. "opposes any initiative that appears designed to change Taiwan's status unilaterally. This would include a referendum on whether to apply to the United Nations under the name Taiwan." He added that "we do not support Taiwan's membership in international organizations that require statehood...
Indeed, mainland officials have taken steps to quietly encourage international opposition to the proposal. Part of their cautious approach, says Yang, is to let the U.S. take a lead role in opposing a referendum on U.N. entry. Shortly after Chen announced plans for the referendum U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the U.S. "opposes any initiative that appears designed to change Taiwan's status unilaterally. This would include a referendum on whether to apply to the United Nations under the name Taiwan." He added that "we do not support Taiwan's membership in international organizations that require statehood...
Thus far U.S. opposition has done little to dampen Chen's enthusiasm for an island-wide referendum. For Chen, who is coming to the end of his final term as president, it's an issue of legacy, says Loh Chih-cheng, a political science professor at Soochow University in Taipei. "He's pushing to make his name in history," Loh says. (Loh also notes that all this could be the President's canny understanding of voter math in Taiwan: a referendum in 2004 helped get out the vote during chen's re-election campaign.) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has accused...