DPP scholars and lawmakers met yesterday to map out a strategy for forming a coalition government -- an idea that would most likely involve cooperation with the KMT, the People First Party (PFP) or both.
Any coalition would likely come after the year-end legislative elections, which are expected to leave none of the three dominant parties with a majority of seats in the legislature.
Many DPP members see the anticipated shake-up in the Legislative Yuan as an opportunity to team up with opposition members who share similar ideals, thereby giving the DPP greater leverage in its dealings with the legislature.
You Ying-lung (
By his estimates, the DPP is likely to capture 85 seats in the legislative elections, the KMT 75 seats, the PFP 40 seats and the New Party seven seats, with 18 seats going to independent legislators. "After the December elections, the best option for the party would be to form a `super-stable' coalition government, which is centered on President Chen Shui-bian (
You said the DPP should include members from at least two major parties -- the KMT and PFP -- in its coalition to counter any potential threat to its government. From across the aisle, members of the KMT, the PFP and the New Party have been discussing an alliance, the so called "pan blue camp."
You also said that the "grand" coalition government should distribute Cabinet positions based on each party's share of seats in the legislature. The academic suggested that the coalition government could serve a two-year term with either a DPP or non-DPP premier.
But the host of yesterday's seminar, lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (
Shen said that an alliance with just one other major party would produce enough legislative seats to command a majority. Shen had previously advocated forming a coalition government with the KMT.
Julian Kuo (
Kuo said that a coalition would be politically unfeasible given the differences between the DPP and other parties. A better idea, he said, was to "dismiss" the DPP party next year, regroup and draft a new party platform -- with an eye toward re-registering the party's old members and drawing in new members from other parties. Kuo said his "dismissal-and-expansion" plan could be put into effect in June next year, in time for the DPP's National Congress meeting. But there were many naysayers who doubted Kuo's idea would work.
Still, Kuo pushed the concept, noting that Japan's Liberal Democratic Party was the result of the successful merger of the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party in 1955. Concluding yesterday's discussions, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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