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Opposition parties unlikely to join in
Double Ten festivity
By Vincent Y. Chao and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff
Reporters
The opposition parties will likely not attend upcoming national day
celebrations, party officials said yesterday.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) told a question-and-answer session on
Monday that both the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan
Solidarity Union (TSU) had yet to confirm whether they would attend the Oct. 10
celebrations to mark the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of
China.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said yesterday that he was not clear about
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) final decision, but the answer “would
likely be no.”
Meanwhile, Chou Ni-an (周倪安), a director at the TSU, said that TSU Chairman Huang
Kun-huei (黃昆輝) had other plans and would also not be able to attend.
Information provided by the committee showed that none of the seven DPP-governed
cities and counties would join the National Day parade from Chiang Kai-shek
Memorial Hall to Sun Yat-sen Memorial on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the government is
still working on inviting heads of state from the country’s allies in the
Caribbean and Central and South American region to attend this year’s Double Ten
Day celebrations.
Joseph Kuo (郭永樑), director-general of the ministry’s Central and South American
Affairs unit, made the remarks in response to press inquiries on why none of the
heads of state that have agreed to attend the event were from Caribbean and
Central and South American region, where Taiwan has the most allies.
In response, Kuo said the government hoped that Panamanian President Ricardo
Martinelli could reschedule a state visit later this month to an earlier date so
he could attend the Double Ten National Day celebration.
According to the ministry, there will be more than 263 foreign dignitaries
attending the event, including President of the Republic of Sao Tome and
Principe Fradique de Menezes, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Danny
Philip, high-ranking officials from the Gambia and Palau, as well as lawmakers
from South Korea, Japan, Switzerland and other countries.
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