Chen Shui-bian (
"I think party members will respect my thinking and direction in choosing a vice presidential candidate, because they realize the overriding situation the party faces," Chen said yesterday morning.
Chen attended two important meetings with Lu yesterday and met with party leaders in private to reduce any possible internal opposition.
Chen denied, however, that a final decision had been made.
He said that he would ask "all great people" at today's campaign rally in Taoyuan about the issue to help him choose the perfect partner.
Chen's campaign staff mem-bers said he originally had planned to announce his choice of Lu at the Taoyuan rally, but now, in order to reduce opposition from inside the party, he will wait until Sept. 28, the anniversary of the party.
Chen was invited by Lu to a breakfast meeting yesterday with former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating in Taipei.
Afterwards, both of them attended a DPP lawmakers' caucus luncheon.
Instead of attacking those who opposed her, Lu downplayed the possibility that she would be Chen's choice.
"There are many tasks which are more important than the Chen-Lu ticket issue, such as international affairs," Lu said.
"The Chen-Lu ticket is not my business now and I will not comment it," she said.
"But I will firmly support Chen in the presidential election," she said.
"Some people say that Chen is only good at domestic affairs, but I think people will see that Chen also has a global view as well, especially if they could have heard his conversation with Mr. Keat-ing," Lu said.
Meanwhile, most DPP senior leaders shifted their tone from criticism to support of Chen's decision, saying the presidential candidate has the right to choose his running mate and party members should respect his decision.
Chen said the opinions of those who opposed the Chen-Lu ticket were based on their own high standards in choosing a candidate.
"I will still consult with party leaders on the issue, but I believe all my comrades will respect my final decision," Chen said.
Chen also visited DPP lawmaker Chou Po-lun (
Chou told reporters after meeting with Chen that the former Taipei mayor seems to have made up his mind about Lu, but that his opposition to the match would carry weight with other party members.
"As far as I know, there are more than 60 members of the party's legislative caucus who do not support the Chen-Lu ticket," Chou said.
"I am worried about those who did not voice their real feelings. They may not be giving their best for the Chen campaign," Chou said.
"At least I hope that my opinions will help let Lu realize the fact that she needs to improve her attitude and be less difficult with people," Chou said.
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
RSS