Former Presidential Office secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun officially launched his campaign for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairmanship in Taipei yesterday, underlining his intent to return the party to its roots by speaking at the DPP's birthplace.
Two days after resigning from his Presidential Office position so that he can run for the party's top post, Yu pledged to regain people's trust in the DPP, retrieve the party's founding spirit and accelerate reforms if he is elected.
He chose the Grand Hotel -- the site where he and other democracy activists founded the DPP -- to hold a news conference to announce his bid.
Yu chaired the secret meeting on Sept. 28, 1986, at the Grand Hotel that established the DPP, which was outlawed at that time since the nation was still under martial law and the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) one-party rule.
Several enlarged pictures recording Yu's participation in the DPP's birth were displayed around the news conference room to emphasize Yu's long history with the party. The title of Yu's campaign slogan, "Unselfish, down-to-earth and insistent," was highlighted at the back of the conference room.
Original spirit
In his statement, Yu said that he had joined the DPP chairmanship race as "an ordinary party member" and that he had decided to run for the position in order to retrieve the noble spirit and actions of the party when it fought for democracy.
"Looking back at the DPP members of that time, each of them advanced bravely and many of them did not hesitate to sacrifice their freedom," Yu said. "I've witnessed the history, and what I want to do now is to get back that unselfish and practical attitude for the party, and for the country."
The DPP's unprecedented setback in the Dec. 3 local government elections represented the people teaching the DPP a lesson, and telling the party to examine whether it had forsaken its dreams, Yu said.
"Now is also the most difficult time for the DPP since its establishment," Yu said. "And as one of the party's initiators, I feel terribly guilty to see such a situation."
Yu said that he believes he has an inescapable responsibility to face people's questions and criticisms since he held many important posts in the Cabinet.
"Over the past five years, the DPP did not neglect carrying out its commitments to people. We did a lot, but we know it was not enough," Yu said. "We talked a lot and we have to do more than that."
Meanwhile, when asked for comment on former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung's (
On Saturday evening, Lin's assistant picked up an application for Lin to run for the post.
also see story:
DPP legislators confused by party icon's latest move
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
RSS