Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) yesterday denied allegations that a DPP faction she is affiliated with was seeking to prevent Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) from succeeding Premier Lin Chuan (林全), but said she would welcome a Cabinet helmed by Lai should there be a reshuffle.
Chen said that a faction linked to former premier Yu Shyi-kun, as well as party members who follow President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), were not working to prevent Lai from becoming premier.
“It is purely a rumor and totally groundless,” Chen said. “We have never been informed of any such information and the Presidential Office has repeatedly denied it.”
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
Media outlets have reported that a major Cabinet reshuffle is expected next month, with Lai tipped to replace Lin as premier to form a new Cabinet ahead of next year’s nine-in-one elections.
Yu sought to prevent a Lai Cabinet, despite the mayor’s popularity, reports said.
Chen said the reports might have been derived from a misunderstanding of comments Yu made on the New Taipei City mayoral election, saying that the highest-polling candidate should be nominated.
Photo: Su Fang-he, Taipei Times
Yu on Thursday last week said he had no intention of running in New Taipei City and had asked the DPP to nominate Lai.
With Lai considered the best DPP candidate to challenge the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rule in the municipality, Yu’s comments were reasonable election strategy, not a scheme to prevent him from becoming the next premier, Chen said.
“There is nothing scheming about Yu’s comments and he remains thoroughly consistent,” she said.
“The speculation that Lai would succeed Lin was purely coincidental,” she said. “To interpret coincidence as an attempt to obstruct Lai is far-fetched.”
Chen, who represents Tainan, said she would support Lai to head the Cabinet, because it would be an honor for Tainan residents.
Much attention has been given to Lai, as he is a likely candidate to succeed Tsai as the DPP’s presidential candidate in 2024, but his New Tide faction has not always been in agreement with Tsai’s and Yu’s factions over pension reform and legislation to allow same-sex marriage.
Lai is apparently not keen to run for mayor of New Taipei City and has supported DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui’s (吳秉叡) bid, but he remains a likely candidate, as opinion polls have shown that he was the only DPP politician who could compete with New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the KMT, who is expected to run for the post next year.
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
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
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
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
RSS