Premier Jiang Yi-huah said on Friday that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is very irresponsible for pushing for a special referendum on the fourth nuclear power plant that would seek to bypass strict legal requirements.
“The Referendum Act requires participation from half of all the nation’s eligible voters for a plebiscite to be valid," said Jiang. "But the plan proposed by the opposition party only requires a simple majority vote without any kind of threshold. It is tailor-made for the particular issue that the DPP wants to pass. The design is reckless and irresponsible.”
Jiang also criticized the opposition party for having an arbitrary double standard, citing another DPP proposal that would require all cross-strait agreements to be put to a stringent referendum.
"When they want an issue to pass a referendum, they lower the threshold," said Jiang."And when they want to have an issue killed, they raise the threshold. This is simply treating referendums like child’s play."
The premier said that if Taiwan really wants to resolve major disputes through referendums, both parties have to think calmly about what is best for Taiwan.