New Party leaders yesterday continued to lash out at the People First Party (PFP), accusing the party of being two-faced (
The New Party has accused the PFP of poaching its members since the announcement on Thursday that New Party Taichung County legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) would join the PFP.
New Party legislator and spokesperson Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) yesterday said, "The PFP and the New Party are just like the two characters from the cartoon Tom and Jerry. While the two might appear to be pals, the cat, Tom, actually wants to swallow the mouse, Jerry."
After Lai's meeting with New Party Convener Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) on Friday night, the two decided to continue to voice their anger with the PFP in order to reduce any negative impact Feng's defection might have on the party.
According to Lai, if PFP Chairman James Soong (
Lai also accused the PFP of being two-faced. Lai said that the PFP initially strongly supported New Party calls to suspend independent legislator Lo Fu chu (羅福助) for assaulting PFP legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), but that few PFP heavyweights actually showed up to vote on Lo's case.
Lai said the incident was an example of how the PFP only supports the opposition in public but then behind the scenes acts according to its best interests.
Rumor has it that Soong had suggested inviting New Party heavyweights -- such as the party's former convener Wang Chien-shien (王建火宣), former legislator Chou Yang-shang (周陽山) and senior member Kao Shin-wu (高新武) -- to represent the PFP in the legislative election. Lai, however, stressed yesterday that the three would never join the PFP.
Wang, who returned from a visit to China last night, held a press conference about the rumors upon his return. He told reporters he considers Soong's invitation an insult and that he would not stray from his party.
"I want to be the New Party's loyal dog," he said.
Wang earlier reportedly wrote a private letter to Feng which said that "Feng's behavior was worse than that of a dog."
In response to the criticism, a PFP spokesperson, Hsieh Kung-ping (
Meanwhile, New Party heavyweight Hsu Li-nung (許歷農) yesterday suggested that both his party and the PFP should work together closely in order to win mutual interests.
Hsu said he believes that the PFP would not try to poach the New Party's elite into its ranks intentionally.
He said he also has confidence that his party would not become a bubble (泡沫) party.
In August 1993, a group of young elite KMT members broke away from the party and established the New Party.
With only nine seats in the legislature, however, the party now faces the prospect of a PFP merger or takeover.
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said yesterday after US President Donald Trump criticized the nation’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the US, saying he aimed to restore US chip manufacturing. National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) did not name Trump in a Facebook post, but referred to President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments on Friday that Taiwan would be a reliable partner in the
RSS